The Spirit Detective Archives: The New Detectives
by CoreyKartana
Summary: Seventy-five years after the archived documents of Yusuke Urameshi, two new spirit detectives must stop a warlord demon from following in his father's footsteps and trying to unite the three worlds for his own dark intentions.
1. The Demon Slayers

_**Chapter 1**_

_The Demon Slayers_

"What? Only five of you this time?" I asked, cockily grinning at the large thugs that were in front of me, and who, I also may add, had me backed into a corner in an abandoned alley way.

My name is Corey Kartana, age sixteen. For starters, I don't look like much of a fighter, that's for sure. I was a scrawny looking teenager, with a bit of a muscle that matched my weight of 175 pounds. Of course, I was 6'1". I had spiked dark brown hair and hazel eyes, and a slight goatee that for some reason had a hint of red to it. At the moment, my clothing is also average. A brown AC/DC shirt, with a pair of jeans, black zip-up sweatshirt (which I wore unzipped) and a pair of Vans skating shoes. I was also wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves, and a silver oval necklace that I naturally wore around my neck. But let's get back to the matter at hand. Here I was facing off against five guys who were probably double my weight and could probably bench 400lbs. Still, I kept a cocky grin on my face.

"We're sick of you, Kartana. You've been taking down to many of us, and our boss is sick of it!" yelled what seemed to be the leader of the group.

"You're boss? You mean Cross Blade? Yea, I've been meaning to go see him. I want to end all this nice and peaceful like, so I was just going to go kill him." I said with a laugh. That didn't seem to calm them down any.

"You're going to regret that! Get 'em, boys!" Now, this is the part that changes this from a street brawl, to something of the paranormal. When the four other thugs ran at me, they each grew a set of small horns atop of their heads. Their finger nails turned to claws, and their skinned turned red. They also had pair of rather sharp looking fangs to boot. These weren't ordinary street thugs...they were demons. Still, I merely grinned as they ran up to me at full speed. The closest one took a swing with such strength that would probably take down a tree, but when he had fallen through on it, I wasn't on the ground...I was a good five feet in the air, and at that moment I kicked the demon right under the chin, sending him flying into a nearby set of trash cans.

It was at that time that a blue aura started circling around me. I was used to it. It's called Spirit Energy. It happened every time I went up against demons. See, I've been able to see demons and spirits ever since I was a little kid. Some were friendly, but most weren't, so I had to defend myself. I gained control of my powers as if it was second nature, and when I was 12 became what I called a Demon Slayer. It seemed like a cool enough title. From what I could tell, normal humans could not see demons, and I'd notice a lot of times that they would try and hurt humans, so I had to help them out. Do my civic duties and all that jazz. Through my battles, I learned about an actual Demon Gang that ran through out the area of cities around my area. Why _this_ city was beyond me. It was just a mill and logging town that grew a bit. It was nothing too special. I also learned their boss was a demon who went by the name of Cross Blade. Yea, I thought it was lame, too. So, I made it my goal to defeat Cross Blade, and maybe re-enter some peace into this area, which leads us back to the battle at hand.

"Well...it seems you're the only one left, big guy." I said, wiping my gloved hands off on one of the fallen demons shirts. I walked forward, and saw that the leader of the pack was about to run and quickly grabbed him. That aura enhanced my physical strength and speed, that's for sure, a plus for fighting demons. "Tell me where Cross Blade is!" I said, glaring at him. I had obviously scared this guy pretty good with beating the crap out of his men, so it didn't take much persuading.

"He...he's at the abandoned mill...the first one made here..." he whimpered out.

"Abandoned, huh? How freakin' cliché..." I sighed then punched him hard in the stomach, causing him to keel over. "You had better get out of here...I doubt your boss will like it much if he finds you squealed on him." And with that I walked passed him, and headed for home. I wanted to rest before I went storming into a demon stronghold, and talk to an old friend of mine about a certain weapon that I hold dear.

"Well, Corey, it's repaired...god damn you break this thing a lot." Derek said sourly as he handed me my sword. Derek Maison, age 17. Derek wore clothes similar to mine; a plain black shirt with a black coat over it, and a pair of jeans, with a pair of tennis shoes. His own hair was slicked back, and he actually had two different color eyes; one green eye on his right, and one blue for his left. Oh. And he was a demon. Another thing that I learned is not all demons are bad. Derek is one of them, and he actually saved my life. That's how we met. When I was 13 years old I got over my head in a swarm of demons, and Derek came and helped me fight them off. He was also the one to tell me the difference between Spirit Energy and Demon Energy.

It turned out he was actually born in this world. See, from what I can tell there are two worlds: Human and Demon. Derek had told me that his father told him about how in the Demon World there were all kinds of demons, who'd run amuck in the Human World, and that a barrier called the Kekai Barrier was put up. It served like a boarder wall. It was to keep the more powerful demons from attacking the Human World. There were also three demon lords who ruled the lands of Demon World, but then a half demon named Yusuke Urameshi who was the ancestral son to one of the late Demon Lords, Raizen, proposed a tournament to the other two Lords, Yomi and Mukuro. The victor would then rule all of Demon World for four years, like a presidential election. Then, the tournament would start all over again. The tournament had many competitors, but actually the one who one was a demon named Enkii, an old friend of Raizen. He declared that for now on there would be no messing with humans from Human World, and for 75 years that still stayed in play. Of course, there are always a few "bad eggs", and those were the demons that Corey and Derek fought together to defeat. Cross Blade was one of them.

"Yea, but that's what your ass is good for...fixing it when it does break! Not my fault that my spirit energy breaks it all the time." I said, laughing as I tested the blade's sharpness by gently rubbing my thumb over it. Another neat trick I learned to do with my spirit energy is coat it over my sword. It makes it both sharper and swifter, but normally it breaks after a month of that. Derek sighed again and stood up.

"Why don't you just go out and get a new one, instead of being a pain in the ass to me and making me fix it?" he asks, rubbing his left temple.

"Duh. Cause this is the best one, and I'm to damn broke to buy a new one! Being a Demon Slayer isn't exactly the best paying gig, and my dishwashing money goes to my car insurance and crap." Yes, yes...I am a dishwasher at a restaurant. Something had to pay for new clothes after they get ripped up in battle. So whenever I work, Derek patrols for me.

"Whatever..." my demon friend replied, "So when are we going to strike Cross Blade's H.Q.? News about an uproar is streaming through the channels..." Derek also proved to be a great help for gathering information, being a demon himself. It was great for tracking down potential demon attacks.

"Well...I think we should wait until tomorrow night. That leaves us all that night and the weekend incase something happens."

"All right...so let's see. Today's Thursday, so I suppose we could go after school and prepare, right? Then head to the mill at about 7pm. Work for you?" he asked, glancing down at some paper work he had on his desk. Derek lived alone in a one bedroom apartment, since his mother was killed and his father disappeared when he was a child. They left him a small fortune, so he was good for living at least. My mother liked him, so I was allowed to stay the night there all the time, which gave us time to do our demon slaying.

"Yea," I said with a nod, "That works fine for me." I grabbed my black overcoat, which I always wore over my sweatshirt when I wasn't fighting. I had already taken off my gloves. "I'll keep the sword here, and then meet you after school at 2:30 in the parking lot. Deal?" I asked, stepping towards the door and looking over my shoulder at him.

"Works for me, later, pal." And with that I took off towards home.

I let out a large yawn as I walked through the halls of my high school. I didn't get home last night until probably 11pm, and then had to do homework until 1am. Trust me: school, work and demon slaying do not mix very well. It's tiring work. Luckily, I can normally get Sundays off on all of them, since Derek doesn't have to work, and he can patrol for me. Now, I really didn't like school, but what other teenager did? I trudged down the hallway, my backpack over my shoulder.

"Ugh...6 hours of this crap...I should just skip..." I said aloud. I was seriously considering it when a heard a throat clear directly behind me. I turned around and found my friend Liz standing there.

Elizabeth Rain, or Liz for short. Everyone calls her that, because if you didn't, I swear to God she wouldn't hesitate to rip your head off. Liz had long dark brown hair, with blue eyes and a pretty good looking chest. Don't judge me, I'm sixteen. She was my age, and a bit of a tomboy. Today, she was wearing camouflage cargo pants with a white t-shirt, with a pair of tennis shoes.

"You can't skip today, Corey. We have that math test." she said, frowning at my attempted escape from school.

"Aw, lay off, will ya? I had a hard night." I responded grumpily. How could I forget? Stupid math. It never was my best subject, especially since it was Algebra III.

"What? Did you stay up all night playing video games again?" she asked. Needless to say, she didn't know anything about my demon fighting. Only Derek did. I figured it would be easier to keep it a secret if only the two of us knew which has worked so far.

"No. I was studying and doing other homework, so lay off..." I retorted rather grumpily and started walking down the hallway. Liz ran up to catch me.

"Come on, Corey, I'm just joking. So what are you doing this weekend?" she asked, walking beside me now.

"Derek and me are going to chill at his place. Probably check out the town or somethin'." If only she knew.

"Hmm...sounds like a blast," she remarked sarcastically, "Well...see ya." And she took off into one of the doors to my right. I sighed again.

"Eh...school, then, killing demons. What a night." And then I, too, went to my classroom.

The 2:25 bell woke me up from my classroom slumber, and I watched as a few people walked out of my class. I slowly got up and walked out as well, throwing my bag over my shoulder. I already knew I bombed the math test, but that wasn't any big deal. I had more important matters at hand, and that was preparing for Cross Blade. I've heard stories of his powers, but never actually saw him face-to-face. He seemed to like to keep a low profile, which made sense since he was a demon crime lord.

"Ya know...we should really be getting paid for this crap." I mumbled as I climbed into the passenger side of Derek's truck. He merely laughed.

"Yea. It would get us some pretty cool new crap. Maybe even upgrade our arsenal. And you could buy new swords so I could stop wasting my time fixing them!"

"Are you still complaining about that??" I asked, shooting him a glare, "Just shut up and drive..."

It only took about an hour to get ready for the strike. I wore my normal clothing of the sweatshirt, t-shirt (Zeppelin this time), jeans, Vans, and my gloves. This time, however, I had my broad sword with me, which made me all the more confident. It was resting on the ground, the hilt propped up against my leg. The blade was about 40", and the hilt was 12". It wasn't anything special, but it does have a story to it.

I was trained in the art of swordsmanship so I could learn how to fight demons, along with karate. I always figured the two went together, and they have helped a lot in the past. I would have died a lot of times by now I'm sure without some kind of training. I still do practice karate, but I mastered the sword after only three years. Derek, however, is even better with a sword then I am. His father showed him how when he was little, and then his mother actually continued his training, so he has a good 10 years on me. I spar a lot with him in training sessions, to keep up my skills.

I glanced over at Derek, who wore completely different clothes when he was going to go fighting. He wore a black shirt and pants, with a red belt and a white bandana, with a pair of black army boots. He also wore a set of black gloves, but they had fingers unlike my own. He had his own katana in the back seat of the truck. It was about the same length as my own sword, but was made in the Demon World and given to him by his father. Needless to say, it was harder to break.

"Were almost there." he said calmly as we drove down an old dirt road. The mill, we learned through some research, was about 20 miles down an old logging road, but we also learned that the road gave away after 18 miles. Our plan was to get out there, and just walk the rest of it. The vehicle stopped and we both climbed out. I glanced at my watch. It was exactly 9:53pm. It was a rather chilly night, but it was the middle of October. There was a full moon out, which was nice for me visually. Derek was lucky enough to be able to see in the darkness with only a little bit of light. I always called it his "Vamp Trick", but he would always reply it was only his demon powers. We trucked through the forest area and the rather slightly beaten down path to the mill. I could only figure it was from Cross Blade's demon gang, which made the most sense. I glanced at Derek who seemed to have the same idea as me, and nodded in agreement.

It took us about an hour to get to the strong hold, and the thug had not lied to us. About fifty demons or so were coming in and out of the old mill, guarding it and doing who knows what else. None of them seemed to powerful, but great numbers were always a problem with me. I'm much better with one-on-one combat. Derek was a different case. He preferred groups more then just one enemy. He had a rather powerful flame technique that helped him with that. Yes, Derek was a fire demon. I've come across elemental demons in the past, and found that fire ones were normally the strongest. He hasn't gotten it so it's like a bomb, but the ability is handy. What he does is he snaps his fingers together to create a spark, and then swings his katana into it, causing a flame to go into the works. It then sends a flaming wave into enemies. I asked him once if he could teach it to me, but he said it was a demon energy based attack. I tried using my spirit energy to create attacks like that, but each time I break my sword, as per usual. Having a weapon made in the Demon World probably helped. Oh well.

"Okay..." I whispered in a near dead silence, "Remember the plan."

"I know...I rush in first, take out the first wave of guards..." Derek whispered back.

"Right. Then I follow afterwards and head into the building..."

"With me on your tail..."

"Then we find Cross Blade and take him down."

"Right." He held up his hand, opened. I grinned, and did the same with my own.

"For love." I said quietly,

"For war." and with that we clapped hands together. Don't ask. It's a thing that we had been doing pretty much since we met. It became accustomed that we do it each time we went into battle, and so it began. Derek quickly ran forward towards the mill's entrance. Needless to say, we caught them off guard. He snapped his fingers and ignited his katana, then swung it forward, sending a wave of flame into the demon guards. Cries of pain filled the air as they caught on fire. That's when I ran into the fight. Thanks to Derek's distraction, I only had to take on a couple demon adversaries, which I promptly took care of by slicing them into two. I glanced back at Derek who was still fighting some of the demon guards. It seemed as though they hadn't even taken notice to me quite yet. My friend gave me a look that told me to go on ahead, and I did just that. I knew he'd be fine. I ran into the open entrance of the mill and looked around. Cross Blade must have made some major renovations. They were demons that looked like they were scientists, working on some kind of machine. What it was I had no idea, but what I did see was a large beast like creature standing in the center of the place, watching the production go on.

"So!" I yelled loudly, causing the demon to jump in start, "You must be Cross Blade, am I correct?" I asked, grinning and gripping the hilt of my sword.

"Aye, I am. And I take it your the infamous Corey Kartana, correct?" He asked. Now, this guy was big, really big, at least 12 feet in length, and 4 feet in diameter. He wasn't wearing clothes...not that he needed to since his body was covered in what looked like black lizard scales. His head had three horns on it, and he had rather large looking fangs, probably about 6 inches long.

"Infamous?" I asked, grinning still, "Never been called that before, "The Infamous Corey Kartana". It's gotta nice ring to it, don't you agree?" I replied, mockingly. I started laughing a bit, which merely enraged Cross Blade. He stepped forward harshly which caused the earth beneath me to shake. That shut me up.

"I've heard quite a lot about you, Kartana, and I've had enough of it. Tonight is the night I feast on your flesh."

"Is that right?" I asked, holding my blade in a ready position, "We'll see about that!" I ran forward, cutting the difference between us to about seven feet, and then jumped high into the air, blade up. My spirit energy glared around me and my weapon, and I slashed downward to split Cross in two.

"You think I'm that easy to defeat?" He asked, moments before I made contact. He held out his arm in front of my sword.

_Is he going to sacrifice his arm? _I thought to myself right before I made contact, but soon found out. His arm suddenly grew a large scale, which looked very similar to a sword, which parried my attack. He then used that time to use his other fist and punch my entire body. Trust me, it could.

"Gaaachkk!!" I yelled as I flew backwards into an old wood pile, my sword flying out of my reach. I don't even know where. I slowly got up, and rested my left hand over my side, _Shit! He broke a couple of my ribs with that punch. Damn, he's strong…_ I watched as Cross started walking towards me,

"See that, human? Your no match for me with those pathetic attacks!" he began to laugh hoarsely, "You're weak. All humans are, and soon they will all be destroyed!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening at this statement. "What are you talking about?!"

"Oops, wasn't supposed to mention that. Oh well. You're dead, anyways!" He was about ten feet from me now. I felt myself began to sweat. I was scared; scared of death. Not until now had I ever been truly afraid of a demon, but this one was to strong for me, and Derek was no where to be found.

_Am I really going to die? No...I can't die. I can't let this bastard beat me...come on...think of something...come on, Corey. Think!! _That's when I felt something warm on my right index finger. "Huh?" I asked myself, and held it up. It was glowing with spirit energy. _What is this? It...It feels weird. It's like it's trying to pull away from my finger. I wonder..._ I held it up and pointed my index finger at Cross Blade as though I were a little kid playing cops and robbers.

"Whaa? Hahahaha! Kartana, are you crazy?! Do you honestly think that you can harm me with that puny amount of energy??" He broke off into that damn laughter again. I was glaring at him now. I was scared and desperate, and this spirit energy was my only hope, but Cross was wrong. It wasn't puny. I could actually feel my entire body being drained of spiritual power, and it was all going into my finger. Then, in the back of my mind, I saw a trigger. So, I did the only logical thing I could think of at the time, and pulled it. The effects shocked both me, and I'm pretty sure Cross Blade too. A blast of blue spirit energy erupted from my finger and nailed Cross right in the chest.

"Graaahh!!!!!" he yelled in pain, for it was his turn to go flying across the room, but he crashed through the wall and out into the open. Sawdust and smoke came from the area, and I fell to my knees. I couldn't support my body anymore. That blast, whatever it was, drained me of any spirit energy I had left.

"Please...be dead...I, I can't move anymore..." I whispered to myself.

"Corey!" a voice came from the entrance. Derek ran in, holding what seemed to be his bleeding left arm, his katana sheathed at his side. He quickly spotted me and ran to my side, "Corey are you ok?! What the hell happened? What was that explosion? Where's Cross Blade?" All I could do to answer was nod my head towards the big hole in the wall I had just created.

"Heh...I really hope that did it...I can't move anymore, pal..." I muttered, rubbing my broken ribs tenderly. He smirked a little,

"I hear ya...I really hurt my arm in that fight. Three of 'em got the drop on me and ripped a bit of my arm. I think it's broken, but it will heal." Demons were fast healers.

"Y-yea..." I mumbled, but then my eyes widened as I gazed onto the hole again. There was Cross Blade, with a large black burn mark on his chest, gasping for air, but still very much alive.

"You...you little punks!!" He started running towards us, "I'll kill you both!!" Neither of us could move out of both shock and injury. We were dead. I couldn't help but close my eyes, but when a minute went by, I noticed that I was still alive. I opened one eye, then the second and found what had stopped Cross Blade. A man with long red hair and green eyes, carrying a green whip which looked like it had thorns on it. He wore tan pants and a blue shirt with a brown vest, and a pair of black shoes. He was smirking, and Cross Blade was cut into five pieces on the floor, drenched in blood. The man turned fully around to look at me and Derek,

"So, you two are Corey Kartana and Derek Maison. My name is Suichi Minamino. But please...call me Kurama."


	2. The Three Worlds

_**Chapter 2**_

_The Three Worlds_

"Kurama?" I asked, my voice sounding extremely tired. Of course, so was the rest of me. That blast definitely used up all of my spirit energy, and I could barely move around. Derek had me propped up against a nearby wooden post, so we could talk to this man.

"Yes," he replied casually. I noticed that his voice didn't carry much emotion, "And you two are Corey and Derek, correct?" he asked, looking between the two of us.

"Yea, we are." Derek replied. "I'm Derek, that's Corey." he nodded his head towards me when mentioning my name. "But what we don't know is why you're here. You can't be too bad, seeing as you just took down Cross Blade for us." Kurama merely smirked at us and looked at the bloody corpse of the large demon. He held out his whip, and it retracted. I quickly picked up that it was using demonic energy. When it was done, it was turned into a simple red rose, which he placed in his vest pocket.

"What kind of demon power was that?" I asked quietly, still not feeling quite up to par. Kurama noticed this and walked over to me, and knelt down in front of me. He searched his pocket and held out what looked like an odd plant...kind of like a fern.

"Eat this...it rejuvenates spiritual and demonic energy. It took me 40 years to perfect it."

"Forty years?" I asked in shock. The man in front of me only looked to be in his late twenties. It was Derek who actually answered this one.

"Demons usually live longer than humans, Corey. I told you that before." He said this while looking at the fern Kurama had just handed to him. I assumed Derek was low on demonic energy as well, but not like my own loss of power. I felt as though I could trust Kurama. Something in my gut was telling me he was one of the good guys, so I took the plant and chewed it up. The effect was immediate. It felt like a wave of spiritual energy was flowing through my body, and I quickly got up, grinning,

"Wow! I feel great!" I said, excitedly. Kurama merely chuckled.

"Yes, the effect of the Spiro Leaf is very effective, but you can only use it once every week." "Why's that?" I asked, looking interested.

"Because to much spirit or demon energy running through your veins at once on to many occasions can have a bad effect on one's body. It would feel like getting hit by a bus, for lack of a better example."

"I see..." I nodded slowly, glancing over to see Derek fully recovered as well after eating the plant, "But now I'm really curious as to whom you are. Why'd you help us?" I sat down on a crate, elbows on my legs and chin in my palms, waiting for his answer. Derek remained standing. The demon continued to smile before replying.

"Well, it's because you two are the only two in this world that can help me right now. At least, that's what Koenma has told me."

"Koenma? Who the hell is that?" I asked, frowning a bit. Derek and me are the only ones who can help? What's with that?

"Koenma is the ruler of the Spirit World. Well, part ruler. His father, King Yama, is the real ruler."

"King Yama?" Derek asked, sounding intrigued.

"You know this guy, pal?" I asked my friend, glancing over at him again. He nodded,

"Yea, well, sorta. My dad told me about him. There are three worlds..."

"I thought you said there were two?" I asked, cutting him off in mid sentence.

"You only needed to know about two!" he said, sounding as though he was getting agitated.

"Well I coulda known about the third! What is it, a secret? " I yelled back.

"Yes, it is!"

"Why'd you keep it a secret??"

"Cause pathetic humans aren't supposed to know!"

"Who're you calling pathetic?!"

"Ahem!" interrupted Kurama, as Derek and I were on our feet glaring at each other. We both looked at him.

"If you two will please sit down, I will continue," he added in a derisive tone.

We sighed and nodded, me sitting down again and Derek leaning against a post. Kurama cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, yes. Koenma and King Yama rule the Spirit World, and watch over the Human World, but there is a problem. You see, as you two might know, there was once a border between this world, and the Demon World."

"Yea, Derek told me about that." I replied. Derek nodded in agreement,

"But it was taken down after Yusuke Urameshi proposed a tournament for king that Lord Enkii won."

"That is true," Kurama replied, nodding to us, "But Enkii was only king for four years, as was the tournament rules from then on. After that, Yusuke won it, and he ruled for 8 years, but after that, he left the Demon World again to live with his wife, Keiko, in the Human World. So years went by, a new leader every four years. Each obeyed the law that Enkii had set down about no messing with the Human World...until this tournament.

"You see, one of the old rulers of Demon World, Yomi, had a son named Shura. Shura trained hard by himself, and returned to fight in this year's tournament. He made it to the semi-finals, where the two matches were himself against Enkii, and the other round was Yomi and Mukuro; the other old Demon World king. Or in this case… the queen. Shura beat Enkii, and ended up actually killing him, even though there had not been a death in the tournament since the beginning."

"What a bastard! Was he disqualified?" I asked, finding myself definitely not liking this Shura character.

"No," replied Kurama, "Although it had never happened before, it was not against the rules, so he made it to the finals. Yomi and Mukuro battled hard, but in the end Yomi was the victor. So it was father against son, but Yomi had been greatly weakened by the battle with Mukuro. Shura quickly took advantage of this, and destroyed Yomi."

"He killed his own dad?!" Derek and I both yelled in unison. Kurama nodded slowly,

"Yes...so, once again it was not against the rules, Shura became the new king of the demon world. Now, for the first six months, everything went without incidents, but rumors started circulating that Shura had a plan...a big plan, to take over all three of the worlds, but there was no evidence quite yet, so there was nothing Spirit World could do...not like there would have been, Shura being an SS-Class demon."

"SS-Class? There are classes of demons? I didn't know that." Derek remarked, "hey, Kurama? What class am I?"

"Well..." he cleared his throat again, "The classes go from a lower D to SS Class. To be honest with you, Derek, you are only a C-Class demon. And you would be in that category too Corey," he said looking at me. I frowned a little because of it.

"Only a C-Class?! And what the hell does that make you?" I asked, getting a little annoyed. I didn't like being called weak, and that is exactly what Kurama was suggesting...in my mind at least. I think Derek was agreeing with me, since I noticed he had a rather annoyed look, too.

"I am an A-Class demon, and being a C-Class is nothing to be ashamed of. You have plenty of room to improve, and I will get to that but I must finish my story first, alright?" I grumbled a bit, but nodded in agreement and sat down again. Derek did the same.

"Anyway, Shura then made his move. He first re-created the barrier between this world and the demon one, but made it even stronger then ever. In the previous one, demons of a B rank and lower could only enter...with this one, a demon of only C rank can enter this realm unharmed."

"So what? Doesn't that mean that Shura can't enter, either?" I asked confused at why a barrier to keep demons out was a bad thing.

"He has the power to open it at any part, and then re-close it. He plans to make sure no demon on the Demon World can stop him." I felt my eyes widen at this.

"A SS-Class Demon...loose in our world...and you're only an A-Class, and Derek and I are C-Class?! How...how the hell are we going to stop him??" I probably sounded frantic, but I was more scared now then when I thought Cross Blade was going to kill me.

"Calm down. That is why I'm here. His plan to invade doesn't begin for another eight months, giving you both time to train."

"Wait..." Derek said, sounding unsure. "We're supposed to reach an SS-Class in only eight months?" He sounded rather calm, which didn't sound like the right type of attitude for the situation at hand. It didn't help matters much that Kurama was shaking his head.

"No. I only expect you to reach B...maybe a lower A class by the end of this time. But the point is not to beat him, but to hold him off until Koenma can lay a trap."

"A trap?" I asked, rather quietly, "What kind of trap?"

"Yes, a sealing spell if you will. It is called the Ma-fukan. Koenma will be the one to use it, but he will need us to hold off Shura while he prepares it. Normally, a Ma-fukan is given spirit energy though out centuries, and is to be used during a catastrophe against mankind. Unfortunately for us, Koenma already used his power against a man named Shinobu Sensui 75 years ago. It didn't work, but that's beside the point. The point is, is that Koenma has found a way to channel more of his spirit energy into it at once, enabling the seal to be as powerful as it should be with full spiritual power, but he needs time to do it. Thirty minutes to be precise. Our plan is to get you two into the best class you can get to in eight months, and then hold him off while Koenma seals him. Once he is sealed, the barrier over the worlds should break with it."

"Kurama..." I said, standing up and looking at him. "That sounds great and all, but why doesn't Yusuke help us? You said he was a Demon World king once, so he should be pretty strong, and you said he was living in the Human World." I quickly noticed the sad expression Kurama got on his face when I had finished.

"Yusuke...was living in the Human World, yes...but ten years ago his wife, Keiko, died of heart cancer. She was also unable to bare him a child, so Yusuke fell into a lonely despair. He came back to Demon World, but lives in solitude, unable to cope with his loss..." Kurama looked up at the ceiling, "oh how he loved that woman..." a soft sigh escaped his lips, and he returned his gaze onto me, "So he cannot help us here, Corey."

"I see..." Now I felt kind of bad for asking. It seemed as though Kurama had been good friends with both Yusuke and Keiko from how he reacted to the question. I decided it was best for a subject change, "So, Kurama, will you be training me and Derek?" I asked, smiling a little to lighten the mood. Surprisingly, he shook his head,

"No actually. Well, I will be training Derek, but you will be trained by someone else." He said, glancing at Derek then back to me, "An old monk by the name of Gero. He is very powerful in the Spiritual Arts, but unfortunately due to his old age would not be much help to us in battle, but training-wise there is no one better to go to." I glanced over at Derek. It would be weird not training with my friend, seeing as we had trained together for the last three years, but we both nodded in agreement, but at that moment something stuck me mentally.

"Kurama...Derek and I have school still, and I doubt my mother will let me just leave for eight months to go train with some old man." Something about my comment must have been funny, since Kurama started laughing. "What?" I asked, frowning again.

"Don't worry about that, Corey. Everything has been taken care of. Do not take Spirit World's influences lightly." He smiled and then put a hand on each of our shoulders. "From today forth, you two are officially the new Spirit Detectives of Earth. The position does have benefits too. You get paid, and you won't have to worry about a retirement, if you're still with it." I couldn't help but grin at the fact I had just been complaining yesterday that killing demons had no profit. I knew it wasn't about the money for me right now. We both nodded in agreement.

I always liked getting stronger, being able to take on new odds, and this was just what I needed. Plus, it was a break from school, which is always a good thing in my opinion. After all that, Kurama told us to get some rest and meet him back here in one week, where we would head off to wherever it was we were going to train. I fell asleep almost instantly as I sat down into Derek's truck.

The following Monday at school Derek and I were both called into the office, where my mother and the principle were waiting with a rather business type man. He explained to us that both Derek and I were selected to be foreign exchange students for eight months in Europe at one of the most prestige schools in England. Of course, both my mother and our principle were overjoyed for us, but Derek and I gave each other sheepish grins and nodded, saying we'd love to go. After that, we went and told our friends that we were leaving for eight months. They were rather sad, some more then others, but also excited for us. The weirdest good-bye was from Liz.

It was after school when we told her, but for some reason she didn't seem at all surprised,

"I hope you guys have a great time." she said casually.

"What? Aren't you going to miss us?" I asked her, folding my arms over my chest. She smiled,

"I know that you'll make the best of your time there. Be good, and study hard." The way she had said study made me nervous, as if she knew something she shouldn't. I shook off the thought and Derek and I went our separate ways home.

The week past without to much incident, I was already packed for the trip, and quit my job at the restaurant. For some reason I really doubted that they would allow me to have an eight-month vacation. As we had planned, we had our going away party on Friday, and then we were off to meet Kurama Saturday afternoon at the mill. All went according to plan, but the thing about Liz still had me bothered. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Oh well. I'd figure it out later. We arrived at the mill at about noon, and Kurama was already they're waiting for us.

"Hello, boys." he said, greeting us and smiling.

"Hey." I said simply, still a little tired. I was up until 4am that night from partying with all of our friends, and on Saturdays I don't normally get up until 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

"Well, are you ready to go?" He asked. Man, he was straight to the point, but we both nodded, "Good. Corey, come here."

"Uh, okay." I nodded, walking over to him. He smiled and handed me what looked like a root of a plant.

"Hold onto this, close your eyes, and do not let go. No matter what happens, _do not let go_." I looked at the plant and nodded slowly,

"Okay, but from what I see it's just a---whoa!!!!" I yelled in shock as the plant seemed to wrap around me. I quickly closed my eyes, but felt the roots tie around me. Then it seemed as though I was going 200 MPH. I grit my teeth and bore through it, holding onto the root like my life depended on it, though I'm pretty sure it did. Finally, after what seemed like ages, it stopped, and the plant retracted. I opened my eyes and found that I was not at the mill anymore...in fact I really doubted I was in my city anymore. It was dark out, and the stars were overhead, and the only sound I heard was of a few crickets in the background. The area was still a forest, but the trees were bigger, and there was a strong sense of Spiritual Energy in the air.

"Wha-?" I asked, bewildered at my new surroundings. A voice ended the silence of the area. I looked around and found an older looking man, with a white goatee similar to my own. He wore a green gi, with a blue undershirt. A cane was in his right hand, and he was smiling at me. A smile that made me feel nervous.

"Good evening, Corey Katrina. I am Gero, and for the next eight months, you will be living in Hell."


	3. Gero's Training

_**Chapter 3**_

_Gero's Training and The Legendary Sword_

"Gah!" I yelled as I was thrown into the nearby wall of Gero's temple. It had already been five months since I began training with Gero, and never before in my life had I wanted to die as badly as I did now. Now, don't get me wrong. Gero was a nice enough old guy when we weren't training, but when we were...the thought brings the pain back.

The training was pretty consistent. Mondays and Tuesdays was physical training, which consisted of me lifting weights, running 10 miles a day, swimming the nearby lake (which, I may add, is about a mile long), then a spar match with him. For an old guy, he's pretty damn strong. I still have yet to win.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are for training my spiritual strength. Now, the training exercises for this vary. Sometimes I'm forced to balance myself on a spike, using all of my spirit energy in my hand to balance atop of it. Or there was once time when I had to endure being tortured by his own spiritual energy, and the only thing keeping me alive was a barrier I used out of my own energy. Sadistic, no?

Friday and Saturdays were days for practicing techniques. Now, I told Gero about the blast of energy I had shot at Cross Blade, and it turns out that it was a move that Yusuke himself used very frequently called the Spirit Gun. He explained to me that the reason it had weakened me so bad was for two reasons: I wasn't strong enough spiritually, and I didn't know how to control the amount of energy that I let out. He told me that I was going to learn how to use the Spirit Gun effectively by the time my training was done, and I was going to be able to use it at least five times a day. What still bugs me, though, is why I suddenly had learned how to use it. That one Gero couldn't answer for me, so for the time being I've just been ignoring the thought.

Sundays are my day off to actually get some rest, which I do. Normally, I end up sleeping at least 18 hours on those days, seeing as I'm up at 5am on the other days and train until 6pm. Then it's dinner, and then normally I fall asleep. The times I do actually get to talk about Gero, I actually learn a lot. It turns out he was a Spirit Detective as well, but never really had any big cases such as this. After the Demon World codes were set in place, not much happened in the Human World that consisted of demons, at least nothing severe. There were always a few rebel groups, but Gero was blessed with powerful spiritual powers, and easily disposed of them.

This morning, which happened to be a Sunday, Gero woke me up from my coma-like sleep and told me to follow him. I sluggishly agreed, quickly dressed and washed my face, then followed after him.

"Where are we going, Gero?" I asked, suspiciously. He never woke me up on Sundays, knowing that I needed rest.

"You'll see when we get there," he stated simply, and that was the end of that. I quickly learned that Gero didn't like to be asked questions repeatedly. Normally it ended in me getting my ass kicked. We traveled up a long path up into the forest.

_I've never been up this way, _I quickly noticed as we went further into the forest. We soon came upon a shrine. It didn't look to special, but had a stone dragonhead atop of it.

"Go look closer at it, Corey." He ordered. I nodded, and stepped towards it. As I came closer to it, I noticed that there was a hilt of a sword glissading in what little sunlight leaked through the trees, and then the blade as well. I looked back at Gero, who was smiling at me. "Take it," he told me. I nodded slowly, but something about that sword made me shiver. I slowly reached my hand out, and as my fingertips touched the hilt, I quickly felt a zap of spirit energy and jumped back. I turned around to look at Gero, who was laughing at me.

"What's so funny?!" I yelled at him, shaking my hand a little. The shock made it feel a little numb.

"That sword is called the Tetsaru. It is my sword from when I was younger, and it is swarming with spiritual power. With this sword, you will be able to use your own spirit energy to make it stronger, like you do now with your own...except without it breaking. Also, it will let you use a new technique."

"A new technique? What kind of technique?" I asked, intrigued. This sounded like it could be fun.

"You'll see when you can pick up the sword. At this point in your training, you should be able to control the sword's spiritual power. I am going to give you one week to do this. If you fail, then you're out of luck. You'll have to go into battle against Shura without it, and trust me. **You will fail**." The way he said the last part actually frightened me. I nodded slowly, and tried to grab the sword again. This time I just grabbed it quickly, held on for a moment, but was quickly rejected again. I turned to see Gero walking off.

"I'll be back for you in one week, Corey. Good luck." and with that, he took off back to the temple, leaving me alone to figure out how the hell to get control over the Tetsaru.

"Stupid sword!!" I yelled in rage as it rejected me once again. It had been 4 days since Gero left me with the sword, and I still didn't have any luck with it. I was trying my best, but still nothing. My hands were hurting from attempting it so much. Once again, I went at it. I gripped the sword with both hands, held on for about five seconds, then the pain was too much and I let go.

"Dammit!" I yelled, kneeling a bit. Not only did it hurt, it used a lot of my own spirit energy. It was like absorbing it, or something. I decided I needed a break, so I sat down and leaned against a nearby tree, closed my eyes, and rested, only to find myself soon asleep.

I was panting bad, and felt the blood trickle down my lip and chin from that last punch. Shura was laughing at me, darkly.

"Did you honestly think that you, a human, could possibly defeat a demon of my caliber?" he laughed even louder. I could not retrieve the Tetsaru so here I was, facing Shura alone without it and only my spirit powers to help me.

"Fuck you!" I yelled and held up my right index finger. _This is my last shot...please work... _My fingertip glowed with the blue aura of my spirit energy, and then blasted in a giant orb at Shura, who was only about ten feet away from me. It hit.

"Yes!" I yelled, grinning, but soon dropping to a kneel position. Through the smoke that had been caused from the shot, I heard laughter, and my eyes grew wide, "No..."

"Yes." said Shura, coming out of the blast's area, unscathed. He slowly walked towards me, and I couldn't move. He continued walking and was now directly above me. I looked into his eyes, eyes that were full of hatred and darkness.

"Die, Corey Kartana..." his own hand began to glow red, and soon a red energy sphere circled around it, "Die." And he put it to my face...

"Nooo!!!" I yelled, opening my eyes and jumping to my feet, holding up my fists to protect myself. When the shot didn't come, I put down my hands to realize I was still in the woods, the Tetsaru still lying in the shrine. I let out a small sigh, "Only a dream..." I slowly walked over and looked at the sword, glaring at it.

"I can't let that happen...I wont let that happen!" I extended my hand, and a burst of spirit energy erupted through my body and then into my gloved hand. Without hesitation, I grabbed the hilt of the sword. The shock came, but I did not let go.

"I have to gain control of this damn sword! I wont let my friends and family die because I can't hold one stupid...piece...of metal!!" The reaction was quick. The pain suddenly stopped, and the sword began to glow with spiritual power, power that soon flowed through my body. I felt great inside, like my own strength had doubled, even tripled. _Is...is this the power of the Tetsaru?_ I thought to myself. I smirked, which turned into a grin, which then soon turned into a laugh. I had done it.

"The Tetsaru is mine!" I yelled triumphantly through the woods. "Bring it on, Shura! I wont even need Koenma's stupid Ma-fukan! I'll kill you myself!" I did not notice Gero watching me through the trees, a smile full of pride on his lips.

The last three months passed, and I was standing at the front steps of Gero's temple, where I had appeared before I even started my training. My appearance had changed a bit over the months that I stayed here. My hair was a lot longer, and I had let my beard grow out a bit...not that it was much, considering I was only 16 years old still. My physical features had changed, as well. I had a lot more muscle on my arms and legs, and I was sporting a rather nice six-pack to boot. My normal clothes had been destroyed through the countless days of training, so I was wearing a Gi similar to Gero, and a pair of boots. I also had the Tetsaru strapped behind me on my lower back in its sheath. Gero walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Corey, I'm proud of you," he said, smiling, "You were able to receive the Tetsaru, and learn its technique, the Spirit Slash. Also, you're easily able to use five spirit gun shots, or five shots from the Spirit Shotgun technique." I couldn't help but smile too. Not for getting all of this praise, but because the training was finally over.

"Now," he continued, "From what Koenma has told me, you still have about two weeks left until Shura's arrival. I suggest that you rest and do whatever it is you need to do. Visit your friends and loved ones. Also, talk to your friend Derek about his new abilities. From what I've heard from Kurama, he has gotten quite powerful from his training."

"Hey, Gero?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"Well, I've been wondering...what would I be ranked now, after my training with you?"

"Ah. I figured you were going to ask that." he cleared his throat a bit, "Well, when you first arrived, you were in the middle C-class area. Now, with just your own spiritual energy you are probably about a higher B-Class, but with the Tetsaru you are a lower A."

"So, I'm about as strong as Kurama is now?!" I asked, grinning wildly. He started laughing a little bit.

"Well, last I checked Kurama was a middle A-Class, but I'm sure he is probably around a higher A. Even though he was training Derek, I'm sure he did a little himself. As you know, Shura is a SS class demon, and it is going to take a lot of power to hold him off."

"I see...well, I'll do my best Gero. Thanks for everything." I smiled and put my hands behind my head, "Umm... any idea on how I'm getting back?"

"I think I can help there, Corey." came a voice from behind me. I turned around to spot Kurama and Derek, Kurama holding the same plant root that I had taken to get here eight months ago.

"Derek!" I yelled, grinning and going over to my friend. I raised my hand and we joined them in a clap, and laughed.

"Been awhile, Corey. I hope your doing well." he replied, also grinning. He looked different as well. He was wearing the same kind of clothes he had before, but his hair was a bit longer, and spiked now in a way like I used too. His katana was, of course, at his side.

"I have been, and plenty strong to boot!" I grinned.

"Oh yea? I bet I could take you easily." he said, smirking smugly and folding his arms a crossed his chest,

"You wanna try me, pal? I gotta couple new moves I need to try out on a demon!" I growled, rolling up my sleeves.

"Oh? You think you're the only one who learned new moves, Corey? I'll wipe the floor with you!" he growled back, going for his blade's hilt. Both Gero and Kurama clearing their throats interrupted us. We stopped and looked at them both, frowning.

"What?!" we yelled in unison. They both just laughed at us. We stopped, looked at each other and laughed, as well. It was good to be back with my friend again, and soon we'd both be heading back to our hometown and seeing our other friends again. Kurama looked at us.

"Ready to go, boys?" Derek and I both nodded and stepped towards him. He held out the root and we both touched it. I looked at Gero and grinned.

"I'll do you proud, Gero." I said, nodding to him. He nodded back, and then we were already wrapped around the root and headed back to where this all began.


	4. Homecoming

_**Chapter 4**_

_Homecoming_

After I had visited a barber and shaved off my beard back into it's usual goatee, I was back looking somewhat normal again. That is, except for my muscle growth. I couldn't really hide it, since it was summer time now and way to damn hot to wear both a sweatshirt and overcoat. I wore the overcoat alone as much as possible, so people wouldn't question why I had spent so much time in Europe lifting weight or whatever. We had returned mid afternoon, so I was able to finish all of that up and spend sometime with my mother who, of course, asked both Derek and myself a thousand questions a piece. She had insisted on Derek staying with us and having a home-cooked meal. She was like his second mom, in a way.

My mother, Michelle, was the one who had pretty much raised me since I was about six years old. My old man left her and I really hadn't seen much of him since then. She was in her early forties now, but still going strong. It turns out, though, that the man who left when I was a child wasn't my true father. I met my real dad, Todd, only a few months before I had left. Everyone says he looks exactly like me, and I guess that's true. I dunno. He seems pretty cool. He and his wife Melissa were going to be joining us for dinner.

Derek and I had already planned to visit our friends the next day and try to spend as much time with them and my family as possible for the next two weeks. We swore we weren't going to worry about the upcoming battle, because I mean, who knows. We might not make it out alive. We had to live life to the fullest now, or it might be to late.

Dinner happened as planned. My mother, you could say, prepared us a feast fit for a king. We ate, talked about the trip (well, lied about the trip), and laughed about all the good times in the past. After a few hours, everyone either left or went to bed, leaving Derek and myself up and sitting in my room, me on my bed and Derek on the recliner. My room was fairly big. It had a large bed, a lazy-boy recliner, TV and videogames, and a decent stereo. The wall was covered in posters, as well. My closet mostly just had clothes in it, but I kept the Tetsaru and my old blade in there as well, along with the jacket Gero gave me, and my fighting gloves.

"So..." Derek said after a little bit of silence, except for the sound of the TV, "You gonna write a will?"

"Hell no." I replied, even though the thought had crossed my mind. I mean this really could be our last stand. We might actually die in the battle to come. We had only fought against minor demons in the past, and here we are about to go up against the strongest of the strong.

"Yea...your right. No need to worry. We're plenty strong! Plus, Kurama will be with us." Derek said with a grin. I glanced over at him.

"How much stronger did he get?" I asked, curious on if Gero was right and Kurama had gotten some training in while training my friend.

"A little bit. He claims he's now a high A-class demon, but who knows."

"I see..." I put my hands behind my head and closed my eyes. I decided that there was nothing I could do about it at this point. "I'm gonna catch some shut eye."

"All right. See ya in the morning." he got up and left the room, flipping off the light switch as he did. We had a forth bedroom which Derek pretty much claimed as his own. I turned off the TV and stared up at the ceiling. _I'm not going to die...we'll beat Shura, and that's that._ And with that false bit of hope, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

The next day, after we had breakfast and showered and crap, we met our friends at the mall. They were over thrilled to see us, and we couldn't help but be as well. After all the hugs and high fives and whatnot, I couldn't help but notice that Liz wasn't around. I looked over at my friend, Justin, and asked about her.

"Where is Liz? I figured she'd be first in line to see us back." Justin gave me a rather confused look,

"Dude...you gone nuts? Liz went on the same program you and Derek did about six months ago."

"What?!" Derek and I yelled in unison.

"Y-yea..." Justin replied, taking a step back, "She said it was in the same area. Oh! It must have been at a different school. I guess it is possible you didn't see her, but I wonder why she never tried to contact you. Oh well." Derek and I looked at each other and walked off into a corner of the mall.

"'Same program as us'?" Derek asked.

"No way...Spirit World hoaxed that. It's not possible..." I rubbed the back of my head, "Maybe...there really is a program like that? And Spirit World just put our names in it. Shit, I don't know I'm freakin' confused!"

"Oh, hey! Liz!" We heard someone say from behind us. We turned around and sure enough there was Liz, draped in her usual attire. White t-shirt, tan pants, and tennis shoes. Her hair was braided back and hung loosely. It looked even longer then before, but that did make sense since it had been eight months. She smiled at the others, and then looked at Derek and me.

"Hi there, you two. I hope you got as much from that program as I did." She winked, which caused me to frown and step forward.

"Now wait a second, Liz! We-" I was cut off by Derek grabbing my shoulder.

"Play it cool." he whispered. I sighed and nodded slowly. He stepped forward and looked at her, "So Liz...what kinda stuff did you learn at the program you did?" he asked her, watching her carefully as if she could explode at any given moment.

"Well..." she said with a smile still on her face, "Let's just say it was a learning experience, and I'm sure that we all learned about the same things. Like...foreign kings and invasions..."

"Liz..." Derek started, but this time I was the one to cut him off.

"Liz. You know, don't you?" I asked her. My gut was already telling me the answer, I just wanted to be sure. The girl merely smiled and nodded slowly,

"Yes, I do. I know all about you two and your adventures, Kurama, and all of what is going to take place in two weeks. And, I'm going to help." This time, we both stepped forward,

"No way." Derek said, firmly.

"Yea. You can't fight with us. You don't know a damn thing about fighting demons!" I said, slightly loud. I quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard, but everyone was oblivious to our conversation.

"What do you think I was doing these last six months, huh? Studying foreign languages? I was training to learn how to fight demons, like you two. I already had basic combat down." That part was true. Liz was a black belt in karate, and had been for a year now. She was going for her second degree, but that's about all I knew.

"Okay then. What kinda spirit powers you got, huh?" I demanded. This just didn't seem right, Liz fighting along side of us. Sure, she was one of "the guys", but not mine and Derek's partner in demon slaying.

"Well," She began, "What I have isn't exactly spirit energy. I'm a psychic, or that's what Kenji told me."

"Who's Kenji?" Derek asked, propping himself up against the nearby wall.

"My master, the one who trained me. Anyways, my psychic powers let me control the area around me with my daggers and knives..."

"Whoa." I interrupted, "What daggers? What knives? Liz, you and sharp pointy objects frightens me." She merely laughed, and held one out. It was a simple throwing knife, with 4-inch blade. She closed her eyes for a moment, and I quickly felt an odd change in the feeling of the area. I glanced at Derek, whom I could tell also noticed it. Liz also noticed our reactions and grinned,

"This is called my Territory. In this area, I can control the sharpness and density of my weapons, making them faster and stronger then normal knives or daggers. It makes for good demon hunting." I was frowning now. I didn't like the fact that Liz was going to be helping us. Not because I thought she was going to be a burden or anything, but only because both Derek and myself looked onto Liz like a younger sister, and her fighting with us might make us to worried about her, and we'd forget our true mission. I shook the thought out of my mind.

_If Kurama thinks she'll be a good ally, then I guess that's fine with me..._ I thought to myself.

"Well...whadaya think, pal?" I heard Derek ask me, and I glanced over to him, and merely shrugged.

"Whatever...just don't get in our way. Your knives are jackshit compared to my Spirit Gun." And with that, we all had a good laugh, and joined back into our group of friends to hang out for the rest of the day, and attempt to be normal teenagers.

Three days had already passed, and it had seemed hardly a day at all. I was alone for the first time since I had arrived back into town, and I happened to be at one of my favorite spots. It was atop of the mountain that was in the outskirts of town. It wasn't really a mountain, but the name suggests it. Mt. Solo. Dumb name, but whatever. It was still a nice spot. I came here a lot to think, and now seemed as good a time as any to do so. I had with me the Tetsaru, and I just stared at it blankly.

_I guess this is the part where I look back at life, right? Tell myself I have no regrets. Shit...I got a lot of regrets. I wish I coulda at least gone to college. No, I gotta stop thinking like that._ I stood up, holding the Tetsaru in my right hand, "I'm not going to let some damn demon get the best of me!"

"Good to hear, cause neither am I!" I heard a voice call from behind me. I quickly turned to see Derek, grinning at me.

"How long you been there?" I asked, frowning.

"Long enough to realize we're thinking the same thing." he walked over and sat down a few feet from me.

"So, Derek. Really. What did Kurama teach you during your training?" I asked after a few moments of aquard silence.

"Want to find out?" he asked, a mischievous grin on his face. I stood up, realizing we were, once again, thinking the same thing. "I don't think you and I have ever actually had a good fight before, Corey. It will be interesting."

"Ha! If you find interesting the same thing as getting your ass kicked, it will be interesting for you." I threw off my coat and sweatshirt, and dug into my pockets for my gloves and put them on. My sword would remain against a tree stump. This was going to be just a humble spar. Derek also removed his jacket and took off his katana that was hitched onto his pant belt. "First one to go down wins." I declared, holding my fists up in my usual pose.

"Of course." Derek agreed, holding his own up.

At the same time, we both unleashed our powers. They met and seemed to be pressing against each other furiously. I grit my teeth, and Derek put is right foot forward to balance. When we realized that this was getting us nowhere, we broke off and then began to run at each other. We were about 10 feet from each other, and it took us only a spilt second to intersect. Both of our right fists met with a burst of both spirit and demonic energy. We glared into each other's eyes for a moment, and then broke off the combined fists, and began to wail on each other with incredibly fast punches. It was merciless, even if it was just a spar. I punched him square in the jaw, which he countered with a punch to the chin. Every attack that we laid out was fully charged with either spirit or demonic energy, which I may add, really hurts!

"Is that all you got?!" I yelled, grinning. I loved fighting, there was no doubt about it. The pure adrenalin rush that I get from it overwhelms me. I laid a good elbow right into Derek's gut after I had ducked down while he had attempted a roundhouse kick to my face. He grabbed my arm in the midst of it and threw me over his shoulder and down on the hard ground with a thud.

"Of course not!" he retaliated. I got back up once again, still grinning.

"Well, let's finish this!" I yelled loudly.

"With pleasure!" We both ran at each other once again, our fists fully charged with energy, when it was all interrupted by a cough...a cough that didn't belong to either of us. We stopped dead in our tracks and looked to the source.

A woman. A beautiful woman. She had green eyes, and long brown hair, at least it looked long. A bandana was covering a lot of it. She wore tannish cargo pants, and a purple belly shirt. She looked to be about nineteen, twenty years old. Yea, she was diffidently beautiful.

"Hi there." she said, a pleasant smile on her lips.


	5. The Human, the Demon, and the Thief

_**Chapter 5**_

_The Human, The Demon, and The Thief_

I watched as the girl that had appeared before myself and Derek moved towards us, smiling oddly. I couldn't get it out of my mind that she knew something.

_Calm down, Corey, you weren't using any techniques, there's no way she could know Derek and I were- _but my train of thought was cut off by the girl's voice,

"So…a demon boy, and a human boy who knows how to control Spiritual Energy sparring with each other. This is an odd sight." She said, putting her index finger to her chin, still smiling at us.

_So much for that… _I thought, frustrated, "So who are you, girlie? And how do you know that I can use spirit energy and Derek is a demon?" I glanced over at my friend, but was rather surprised to see that he wasn't saying anything. In fact, his whole expression was blank. He was just staring at the girl. "Derek?" I repeated, but still no answer.

"Is your friend all right?" I heard the mystery girl ask, and I looked back at her and nodded,

"He's fine, but you never answered my question. Who are you and how is it you can see our powers?" I asked, glancing over at the Tetsaru, which was still propped up against the tree stump from early.

"Hmmm…well, I suppose that I could show you." She closed her eyes, and all at once I felt an enormous amount of demonic energy flowing from her. I didn't think it was quite as strong as my spirit energy, but still very powerful. Stronger then Cross Blade, that's for sure.

"You're a demon? But, how come I couldn't sense your demon energy before?" I asked, frowning at her. My hands rested at my side, but I was still ready incase she decided to attack.

"Duh, I was masking it. Powerful demons can do that. Don't you know anything?" she asked mockingly. I growled and took a step forward,

"Listen, lady, maybe you didn't get the memo, but me and my buddy here are the Spirit Detectives of Earth. I'm Corey Kartana, and that's my partner, Derek Maison." I once again glanced over at Derek, who seemed to be snapping out of it, but all I got was a nod from him. I let out a sigh and looked back at the girl, "And who might you be?" I asked.

"Me?" she asked, smirking again, "Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. My name is Jade. No last name, sorry."

"And what are you doing in the Human World, Jade? Are you part of Shura's army?"

"Shura? That brat demon king? I'm afraid not. I look after only myself, and rule over myself. I don't need a king to tell me what to do." She said, in a sort of prideful way. I had to admire her for that. Her ideals were similar to mine.

"And what is it that you do, Jade?" I asked, feeling as though this woman wasn't that bad.

"Why, I'm a thief of the Demon World." And so the bad feeling came back.

"Is that right?" I asked, feeling my body tense. "And so what are you doing in the Human World?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm stealing from the Human World now. There are a lot of precious gems here, gems that are hard to find in my world, so I decided to come here. Get it?"

"I get it, but as a detective it's my job to stop crooks."

"You can try, little boy."

"Little?! Why I outa-" and I stepped forward, but only to find a dagger coming straight at my head. I quickly ducked down and to the side to avoid it, but Jade took that time to jump backwards. With her now was what I knew right away was a demon. He was large, at least nine foot, and had a black leather jacket on with a white shirt underneath, and a pare of ripped up pants. Not for a fashion statement, but because they didn't fit properly. He had three horns atop of his head, and pure black eyes.

"Who's this runt, Jade?" he grunted out with a voice that a pig would make if it could talk. Jade didn't look to thrilled to see him, but responded none-the-less.

"Corey Kartana…Spirit Detective of Earth, and his friend over there is Derek Maison." She said. And the sound of his name, Derek finally snapped out of it.

"Huh? What? Corey?" he asked, looking at me.

"About time you woke up!" I yelled.

"What do you mean?" He asked me, looking a little dazed still.

"Never mind I'll tell you later! We have a problem right now." I stated, looking back at Jade and the other. The man grinned a fanged grin at me and took a step forward.

"I'll say ya do, kid." He snarled at me, pulling out a large spiked club he must have had fastened to a strap on his back, "I'm gonna take you down easy." I put up my own fists and started to let my spirit energy out, when Jade stepped in between us.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Jade! What the hell are you doin'? Lemme take care of this punk!" the demon yelled in rage. She looked at him, glaring darkly.

"Were you not listening? These two are spirit detectives! If we attack them we'll have to deal with Koenma, and I am not in the mood for that. Let's just leave." And with that, she turned and started to walk away, the large demon following after. Well, I couldn't just let them escape, so I took a step forward.

"Hey! No one said either of you could leave!" I yelled fists clenched in a ball. That large demon had really pissed me off, so I was just itching for a chance to kick his ass. Jade stopped and turned to look at me.

"Corey…we will meet again, I promise you that. But now is not the time for us to fight. Here…" She reached into her jacket and pulled out what looked like an article from a newspaper, crumpled it into a ball, and flicked it at me. With a smile, she turned and the two took off. For some reason, I didn't pursue them. I walked forward and knelt down, picking up the piece of paper. Un-crumpling it, I looked at the article.

"World's largest diamond to be at display in the Portland Museum…heh..." I threw the piece of paper down and grinned, "Classic. Purely classic. The thieves go after the diamond. God, my life is a big cliché." I turned around to see Derek reading the article, too.

"So were gonna stop them, right? I guess it does fall into our job…stopping demons and all."

"Yea…" I said, and then grinned at him, "Or is it you just wanna see your little girlfriend again?" I asked, laughing a bit.

"What was that?!" He yelled, glaring darkly at me.

"What was what? As if it wasn't obvious! You couldn't keep your eyes off her. Hell, you couldn't even talk!" I laughed again, moving to the side a bit narrowly dodging a rather harsh punch from Derek's fist coming towards my face.

"Shut it, Corey! So when do we leave for Portland?"

My eyes were closed as we drove down the freeway towards the city of Portland. It was the very next day, early in the morning. From what I gathered that night, the diamond would be displayed from noon to 6pm, in the center of the museum. Security would naturally be tight, but a bunch of human guards wouldn't be able to handle two powerful demons. Our plan was to enter the museum and scope out Jade and her partner, but we'd have to be unarmed. Liz was going to come with us, but she had prior engagements, but it didn't really matter. Not a lot of room in Derek's truck, anyways, not with our weapons in the back. Once we had them targeted, we'd challenge them to a fight. For some reason my gut was telling me that Jade would accept it, but I wasn't quite sure about her big friend. He seemed like one of those guys who think he's better then everyone else, even though his demonic energy was only that of a lower B class. Jade, however, was a different story when it came to strength. From what I had seen yesterday, Derek and I were more powerful then she was, but she had said she could suppress her energy level, so that had me worried. Another thing that I was worried about was Derek. He had gone gaga for this chick since he first saw her, and I couldn't have that happening in the middle of a battle.

_When we do fight them, I'll have Derek take the big guy. He should be able to handle him no problem, then I'd be able to deal with Jade._ I opened my left eye to glance at Derek, who was concentrating on the rode, I'll give him this, though; she did have a nice ass…

We arrived in Portland at around 9am, which still have us time to get to the museum and all that. We stopped by a coffee shop and got some coffee, knowing I at least would need the caffeine. I wasn't too much of a morning person, and during summer break I would normally still be asleep at this time, or just going to bed. We drove to the museum parking lot, which was already filling up with cars that one had to know belonged to rich folk. I groaned quietly at this,

"Great…that's all we need. A bunch of snobby rich guys thinking there better then us…"

"Well, we know the truth to that one. We could kick any one of their asses!" Derek replied, laughing. I chuckled, too, and then got out of the truck after we had parked. We crossed through the parking lot and bought our tickets at the museum's front entrance. The place seemed boring enough, go figure, and there really wasn't anything that I found too interesting. We visited the medieval area just for giggles, and then sat in the lounge of the museum for a while.

Time passed, and soon the large clock in the room toned that it was noon. Derek and I nodded to each other and stood up, heading towards the room where the diamond was to be displayed. Just as I thought, a bunch of business looking men and woman were scattered all over the place. We had not bothered to dress up, knowing that we'd most likely just end up fighting Jade and her companion, but the odd glances towards us were getting on my nerves.

We made our way to the front of the room and stood there, looking at the hunk of rock that lay before us. It was big, all right. Like the size of three watermelons, or something along those lines. The audience "Ooooh"ed and "awwww"ed, but I honestly didn't see the big deal. It was about that time when I felt a slight shiver in my spine as a small trace of demonic energy entered the room. My eyes darted around, looking for the source. Derek beat me to it and nudged me to look over near the back of the room. There, standing in a long red Chinese-style dress, with her hair up in a bun, was Jade, smiling at the two of us. I didn't see her companion, but I knew he had to be close by. We walked over to her, trying to keep a casual look.

"Hello, boys. Nice to see you again." She said, smiling at us in a rather sweet way.

"Hey, Thief. What's up?" I asked, grinning a little, my eyes still trying to pinpoint where the other one was. My eyes caught Derek, who was staring at Jade, but at least he still looked like he had his wits. Not like last time.

"H-hi." Derek said to Jade, who giggled lightly causing Derek to blush. I glared at him,

"Hey! She's a bad guy, moron! She's trying to take the big rock over there, remember?" I hissed, jerking my head towards where the diamond was.

"I know that!" he retaliated, "I'm just making conversation!"

"Yea, with the enemy!"

"Corey, shut up!"

"Don't start this here!" We were soon up in each other's faces, glaring, but Jade's hand interrupted our gaze. We both looked at the woman, who was smiling.

"I'm glad to see you both have so much spunk, because you're going to need it."

"Oh?" I asked, grinning a bit, "If you hadn't noticed, we kind of have the advantage here. We got you surrounded, and it's not like your buddy could take that diamond with all these people around."

"You think so?" she asked, still smiling. I didn't like that smile. It made me worry for my safety, and it damn well should have. At that precise moment, a loud explosion was set off, right in front of the diamond's case.

"What the hell?!" I yelled, looking around and trying to figure out what had happened. I looked to question Jade, but she had already vanished. "Shit!" I looked back at the cause of the explosion, and found that as the smoke cleared, the diamond was already gone.

"Corey!" Derek yelled, pointing up at the ceiling. A giant hole had been made, in the shape of a large man.

"The bastard from yesterday! The guy who was with Jade! Come on!" We both ran towards it and leapt upwards, traveling a good twelve feet in the air. Gero's training had paid off, that's for sure. My body felt so light and powerful, that a twelve foot jump was nothing to me! We found ourselves on a lower part of the roof and quickly spotted both Jade and that guy running off in different directions. Before I could even go after one of them, Derek stepped in front of me.

"I'll take Jade." he declared.

"What?!" I yelled, and stepped in front of him, "Dude, every time we see that girl, you go stupid! And you expect me to let you fight-" but he held out his hand for me to stop talking.

"Trust me..." he said, quietly. The way it sounded, I don't know why but I just went with it.

"Fine...don't screw up..."

"I won't." He held out his hand, "For love."

"And for war." I replied with a sigh, clasped his, and then we both took off in different directions, I headed off the roof and into the parking lot, and Derek following onto a higher level of roofing. I said a silent prayer, praying that he didn't let Jade's sex appeal get the best of him.

"We're screwed..." I said, aloud, and continued my pursuit.


	6. For Love and for War

_**Chapter 6**_

_For Love and for War_

I ran into the center of the museum's parking lot, trying to spot out the large man who had just taken off with a large diamond. You'd think that would be easy to find, but it's not! I closed my eyes and tried to see if I could pick up his demonic presence. That was a little easier to do. I sensed him running through town, on foot, but going pretty damn fast.

"Definitely a demon." I grumbled, and took off after him. Like I had said before, Gero's training did wonders for my physical and spiritual powers. I was running damn near 60 mph at this point. I flew by cars and people, who just blinked, not seeming to realize what had just gone past them. It would have made me laugh if I wasn't pursuing someone.

The chase went on until we had literally gotten out of the city and into the wilderness area around it. I hadn't realized how thick the woods were in this area until I was running through them. I eventually had to slow down to make sure that I didn't knock myself out by running into a tree. I soon found myself in a clearing, and stopped to rest for a moment. It was only then that I realized I left the Tetsaru in the truck at the museum.

"Dammit..." I muttered quietly. _Oh well...I should be able to take this guy without a weapon._ I walked forward a few steps, eying where this demon might appear from. _I doubt he just took off. I can tell this guy wants a piece of me, and I'm gonna give it to him!_ I stood right in the center of the clearing, put my hands around my mouth, and yelled,

"Hey!! Dumbass! Come on out, unless your to scared to fight a human!" I saw some birds fly off from the trees because of my yell, which made me smirk. I really hate birds. Random thought. My eyes quickly glanced over at a spot that seemed to just be shaking. In fact, the all the damn trees over there were rattling as if it were an earthquake. Out through them, came the demon I had chased, but the diamond was nowhere to be seen. What I did see, was a giant spiked club. I don't even want to know where he found that thing. "What's up, moron?" I asked, grinning.

"Hey!" he yelled back, glaring at me, "My name is Jukon, and don't mess with me kid!"

"Well, did I touch a nerve there, ugly? I'm sooo sorry!" I laughed. I could already tell this guy's weakness...he was easily flustered. Not a good trait to have when your a fighter.

"Shut up, boy!" He roared again. I held up my hand and bent my fingers forward in a 'come get me' motion, and he did just that. The beast of a man charged, and at the same time transformed. He was, in fact, the same type of demon that Cross Blade had in his little gang. His fingers grew into claws, and his skin turns brown. Three horns grew out of his forehead, and his eyes even turned blood red. The shirt he had been wearing before ripped off, which was kinda gross, as did his shoes. He was like the freakin' Hulk or something. I sighed lightly.

_This is going to be easier then I thought...damn. _The beast was now right in front of me, and swung his gigantic club downward, as if trying to squash me. I gracefully leapt to the side, and sprang forward, right fist clenched tight and punched the demon right in the side of the face, sending him flying into a nearby tree. I gently shook my fist out.

"Damn, dude." I said, as Jukon slowly stood up, "You almost broke my fist with your face! Was that your plan from the start?" I laughed, but it only made him grow even angrier.

"Boy, I am one of the most powerful demons there are! You should be bowing down to me!" He bellowed. I tilted my head to the side and gave him a look as if he was crazy.

"Are you nuts?" I replied, "Your weaker then me, Derek, and even Jade! The last thing I'd do for you is bow." I sighed again, and looked up at the sky. "Dammit, Derek...you get all the luck. You get to fight a pretty girl, and I'm stuck with a moron..."

*****

Derek quickly pursued after Jade, leaping from roof top to roof top with relative ease. In such a crowed city, it was easy for the two demons to jump from them. Jade made a rather unexpected jump, and went from a three-story roof, to a twenty. Derek stopped on the three and looked up at it.

"Wow." he said, slightly stunned, but quickly shook his head to snap himself out of it. He leapt upwards, going in a flying motion to land on the roof of the building. Once landed, he stood up straight and looked at Jade, who was smiling.

"Well, I'm glad it was you who followed me, Derek." she said, her voice soft and sweet to Derek.

"Yea, well, I had to see you again, after all." he replied, also finding himself with a small smile on his face.

"Oh? And why's that?" she asked, walking towards him. She was unarmed, as so was Derek. He, too, had forgotten to grab his blade from his truck.

"Well...I don't know. I just wanted too, okay?" he regarded. Jade stopped walking when they were about two feet away from each other.

"Corey will probably have killed Jukon by now." she said, as if it were no big deal.

"What?" Derek asked, blinking, "You don't care what happens to your partner?"

"Not really," she replied, turning her head to look over at the city, "He was just a tag along. Not to powerful, but more of a grunt. He's so damn arrogant that he can't tell that he isn't strong at all." the two of them both actually started laughing at the insult towards Jade's partner.

"So why do you hang out with him?" Derek asked.

"Well..." she started, "I was actually planning on using him as a decoy. You know, plant bate on him so that he can take the heat for the entire theft, and I get off scott free." she grinned at this. Derek merely blinked, and smirked as well.

"You are sadistic." he commented, which made her look at him, and she was grinning a rather lustful smile.

"And I think you like it, Derek Maison. So how about it? Why don't you leave your young friend Corey and join me in thievery? It's a great living, and I think you and I would make great partners. Think about it." she continued to smile at him, but Derek merely looked down at the ground and sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Heh...sorry, Jade. You're hot and all, but I'm not going to betray my best friend." He jumped backwards a few feet and held up his hands, lightly clenching them into fists. "Well, Jade. I'll make a deal with you. Let's fight here. You win, I'll join you as a thief. I win..." he pauses and starts to chuckle lightly to himself.

"What?" she asks, still smiling herself.

"You and I go on a date."

*****

I swung my foot forward in mid-air, and it landed directly into Jukon's left cheek, sending the beast of a demon flying into a nearby fir tree, splitting it in half. I landed on the ground and flicked my nose gently,

"Goddammit, dude! You're even more pathetic then Cross Blade was! Sure, I took a beating from him before, but that was then and this is now! He was a freakin' C-Class demon! What the hell does that make you?!"

I was seriously pissed at the lack of a challenge that Jukon was giving me. I did have to hand it to him for persistence, as he slowly got back up even after splitting a tree in half.

"You?! You cannot beat me! I'm one of the most powerful demons around!" He picked up his club, which he had dropped right before the collision with the tree.

"You?! A powerful demon?? How many times do I have to freaking tell you that you suck at life! Seriously!" I snapped back.

In a rage, Jukon charged at me once again. I sighed lightly and held up my right hand and extended my index finger, which started to glow blue with spiritual energy. This, in cause, made Jukon stop in his tracks. Big mistake.

"Wha-what is that thing?" he asked, dumfounded. I smirked at him, and pointed it right at him,

"My Spirit Gun. I'm sick of messing with you. Later." And with that, a blast of energy erupted from my finger and straight at Jukon, who got caught in the heart of the eruption. The energy was much stronger then the last time I had used it, Ten times at least, and I hadn't even charged it for long.

Once the blast ended, there was nothing left of Jukon. I kind of felt bad, but it had to be done. I walked towards the area where he had come from, and quickly found the diamond on the other side of a fallen tree. I rubbed the back of my head and shrugged.

"I better just leave it here, More then likely, if I just take it back, I'll get arrested for it, and that would make fighting Shura a bit of a pain in the ass." I turned and started to walk out of the forest. It was only then I realized how far out of the city I actually was. I grit my teeth and flung my head back into the air, and screamed at the top of my lungs,

"Damn you, Jukon!! And Derek, I swear to God if you haven't taken down Jade by now, I will kick your damn ass!!!"

*****

Jade swung her fist directly at Derek, who narrowly moved his head back to avoid the blow. The two were grinning at each other the entire time. The fight between the two demons had been going on for a little over five minutes, and there still seemed to be no winner. The two just seemed to be enjoying themselves for the most part. Derek moved in to give Jade a strong punch into the side of the face, but she grabbed his wrist in mid-punch and went for a low punch to his gut with her free hand, Derek pre-empted this attack and caught her hand in his own, moved his head forward and stole a kiss on her lips right then and there.

"Well...you are a good kisser." he said with a wink. Jade turned beat red at this, which gave Derek the advantage over her and lifted her up and tossed her over his head and onto the ground. She landed hard on the concrete roof and Derek kneeled down and put his hand on her shoulder in a pin. "Look's like I win."

"That was a cheap shot." she retorted, trying to glare at him, but the two broke into laughter. "But you are a good kisser."

"R-really?" Derek asked, his cheeks turning red. Jade smiled and nodded, then reached her right hand up and gave Derek a hard push, sending him over onto the ground. She leapt up and straddled him and pinned him to the ground. "Now who's the winner?"

"I'm pretty sure I declared victory first." Derek replied, still smiling. The two, by now, could not keep there eyes off of each other. "Did you mean it when you said I was a good kisser?" he asked, actually wanting confirmation.

"Maybe..." she said, a soft smile on her face, "but then again, it was pretty fast. Maybe..." she turned slightly red again, "...we should try it again." she began to gently lean down to Derek's face...

*****

"What the hell are you two doing?!!" I yelled, causing both Derek and Jade to jump up off of each other I had ran the rest of the way back into the city to make sure Derek hadn't gotten himself killed. I sensed there energies clashing with each other, so I climbed the building and made it to the roof, but what I saw diffidently wasn't what I had expected.

"C-corey?? H-hey, man...what's up?" Derek stumbled with his words. They were both bright red.

"Apparently you…" I glanced over at Jade, who was straightening out her dress. She got my look, "What do you have to say, Thief?"

"Hmph...where's Jukon?" she asked, as if nothing had happened.

"Jukon?" I asked, and then laughed. "That idiot thought he was some bad ass, so I blasted him to the Spirit World. I ain't gonna tell you what happened to the diamond, either, That mushy crap won't work on me." Jade smiled lightly, and walked over to me.

"Well, Corey, I am impressed. I'm glad you took care of him for me, so now I must be going." She walked past me and started for the stairs.

"Wait a second! We're not-" I tried to start, but Derek stepped in front of me and looked at her.

"So who won?" he asked. I blinked, confused at the question.

_What the hell? _I thought to myself. What kinda question was that? She looked back at him and winked.

"I'll give this one to you, Derek. I'll see you around. You too, Corey. Good luck against Shura." and with that, she took off down the stairs. I took a step forward to look at Derek, who had a very smug look on his face.

"What the hell are you grinning at?" I asked, starting to get slightly irritated at my lack of knowledge with what was going on right now.

"Nothin', pal...let's just say we have a new ally." He started walking towards the stairs, as well.

'Wait...what?! Are you talking about Jade? What were you two doing? Don't tell me you were about to kiss her!! Derek!" he had already started down the stairs.

I face slapped myself and gave out a deep sigh. "Goddammit...what the hell is going on in this world..." and with that last comment, I also headed down the stairs. It was going to be an interesting conversation back to our city, I could already tell.


	7. The Plan of Attack

_**Chapter 7**_

_The Plan of Attack_

"And so, I found the two of them on top of each other, just about ready to kiss! Can you believe that?" I asked Liz, the two of us both laughing. I glanced over at Derek was turning slightly red already. We were in his truck, driving to the meeting place where we were supposed to rendezvous with Kurama. It had been two days since the whole Jade incident, and I had to take it on myself to tell Liz the whole detail. I was riding shotgun while Liz stretched out in the back seat.

"Yea, well at least I got to fight the girl. You had a big demon to deal with." He commented, trying to save face.

"From what Corey told me, Derek," Liz said, smirking, "You were just a bumbling idiot when you guys first met her in the woods." Both she and I laughed, and Derek gave me a rather hard punch to the arm.

"Anyways," Derek said, dismissing the previous subject, "Corey, you're the one who talked with Kurama. What exactly does he have planned?" I glanced out the window, and yawned lightly,

"He said he wanted to talk strategy for when Shura came…said he wanted to make sure that this operation of his went as smoothly as possible." We were now turning into a restaurant, where we were supposed to meet up with our red-headed demon friend. When I asked him why we were meeting him there, he told me that Shura had many spies on the loose, and didn't want them to know what we knew, or what we had in mind.

It turns out that Shura actually has no idea Derek, Liz and myself were even in existence. The Demon Lord was arrogant, and unless a person was powerful, he would pay no mind to him. That's where I figured we had the best advantage. We pulled off the road and into the parking spot of the rather crowded restaurant, and climbed out of the truck.

"I wonder if the food is any good." I commented, which made Liz give me an odd look,

"We're coming here to discuss how to take on a demon, and you worried about the menu? What the heck is wrong with you, Corey?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"What? I'm hungry, and it's like they say, 'Yea can't fight evil demon war lords on an empty stomach!'" I laughed and put my hands behind my head, and we all walked into the joint together.

It was a nice looking place, but noisy. I was guessing that Kurama planned it that way, to keep away any wandering ears from catching word of our plans. We found the demon sitting at a back table, staring right at us. We walked over to him and he gave us a wry smile,

"You're late." he commented.

"Sorry...traffic was a bitch." I said, making an excuse. Actually, it was because we stopped at the Pancake House to eat some breakfast. This early morning crap was hard for me to stomach, and I wanted some food before we started talking about demon fighting. I was actually surprised Liz didn't call me a pig about saying I was hungry already.

"I'm sure," he said, giving a tone as though he did not believe me, but who could blame him? "Anyways, you all of course know why I asked you're here." He glanced at all of us, and we all nodded.

"Yea. Our plan to strike against Shura." Derek answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Correct." Kurama replied, "Okay, so the plan is rather simple. Shura is supposed to attack in five days. When that happens, I will transport Koenma and us to the point of attack. More then likely, he will have an army with him, so we will have to battle through the forces to get to him. Once we do that, Liz," He looks over to her, "You will hold off the masses at the front, while Corey, Derek, Koenma, and myself battle forward."

"What?!" Liz yelled, slamming her hand on the table. I glanced and it looked like no one seemed to notice, "Why do I have to play guard duty? I want to help you guys!"

"Because, Liz, you would be no match against Shura. I'm sorry to say that so bluntly, but it is the truth. You will best be suited for making sure that Shura cannot call for re-enforcements. The only type of demon he will be able to send at you from that point are B and lower, and you are suited enough to be able to fight them." Liz frowned and her cheeks turned a little red, but she settled down and quieted up. Kurama continued,

"Once we make it to Shura, Corey...Derek..." he looked at us now, "We will battle Shura in three on one combat while Koenma charges his Ma-Fukan. This should take anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes, and we have to make sure nothing happens to him or the Ma-Fukan." We both nodded,

Yea... Simple. I thought to myself, then spoke, "And...if for some reason something does happen to him or the spell?"

"Then," Kurama looked down at the table, then back to us. His face had turned very serious, "We will have no choice but to battle Shura to the death. I'm afraid to say that our chances are slim to none of victory if that does happen, so let's try and make plan A work." We both nodded. It was still hard for me to believe that such a demon could be so dangerous. Up until right now, after training with Gero and beating the crap out of Jukon, I felt almost invincible, but as Kurama explained the sheer velocity of Shura's power, I felt my stomach turn. I glanced over at Derek, and noticed that his own face had turned pale. He must have been thinking the same thing.

"Well…" Kurama said, breaking the silence, "I suppose it is time for me to introduce you to Koenma." He said casually. I blinked,

"Koenma? The Spirit World guy?" I asked, still in a bit of a daze from the previous talk.

"Yes…the Spirit World guy." Came a voice from behind me. The four of us turned around and looked at a young man, looking a little older then myself. He was wearing a collared shirt with an overcoat over it, a pair of slacks, and dress shoes. He looked like a normal looking guy, except he had a pacifier in his mouth, and a tattoo of "Jr." on his forehead. His hair was down to his neck, as well.

"Uhh…" I blurted out, pointing at the pacifier, "Why the hell do you have a binki in your mouth?"

"Corey!" I heard Kurama interrupt, "This is Lord Koenma, Ruler of the Spirit World." I looked back at him, then back at Koenma,

"The Spirit World is run…by a raver?" I asked, half serious. Koenma let out a small chuckle.

"Hardly. At least it's better then being called a toddler." He stated, which caused Kurama to laugh quietly. Derek, Liz and I gave each other confused looks. Koenma noticed this and smiled, "Inside joke."

"Anyways…" I said, interrupting the two's laughter, "So what is this Mafukoo thingy?"

"Right," Koenma said, nodding, "Well, the Ma-Fukan is a Spirit World defensive spell, which enables a powerful barrier net to be put around either an enemy or a city or whatever. The point of it is, is to keep anything from either coming in or out. Our objective is to capture Shura in the net, which will allow time for the next Demon World tournament to come into place, and the new ruler of the Demon World will take care of him." He then glanced over at me.

"The binki which I hold in my mouth is the catalyst to the Ma-Fukan spell. I channel my spiritual power into it, and have been doing it for the past 75 years. Unfortunately, I had to use it all those years ago against a man named Shinobu Sensui, the third to the last Spirit Detective." He coughed quietly, cleared this throat and continued,

"Yusuke was Spirit Detective at the time, and fought against Shura. He was no match for Shinobu's Sacred Energy, a special type of energy that is far different from either Spiritual or Demonic, and much more powerful. I then used the Ma-Fukan to attempt to seal away Shinobu."

"But it didn't work…" Derek declared, "Yusuke was the one to defeat Sensui, right?"

"How the hell do you know that?" I asked, glancing over at my demon friend.

"Because I pay attention." He replied, smiling smugly.

"Hey! Shaddup, lover-boy!" I snapped back.

"Do they always do this?" I heard Koenma ask. Liz gave out a soft sigh and nodded,

"There like brothers, what can I say?" she answered. Derek and I looked at each other and laughed a bit, then went back to paying attention to Koenma,

"Ahem…yes well, anyways, you are right Derek. Yusuke did defeat Sensui in the end, because of his ancestral father, Raizen. You see, Shinobu did kill Yusuke, and Yusuke's friends; Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama over there chased after him. Yusuke re-awoke, blazing with demonic power, and he and myself pursued after them. Yusuke fought once again with Sensui in the Demon World, and the two were very evenly matched. It seemed like it was going to end in a stale mate, when suddenly Yusuke went very strange. His hair turned long and white, and his demonic powers skyrocketed. He massacred Sensui, but later told me that he didn't remember a thing.

"That is how Yusuke defeated Shinobu, but I suppose that was a little beyond the point. My point is, is that the Ma-Fukan had been drained of it's powers, and once again I am forced to use it. This time, however, thanks to the Spiritual Worlds resources, I've found a way to channel my energy faster into one large blast, which should be enough to capture Shura." He ended his story with a nod.

"Hmm…" I thought aloud, "Well, then I guess were good to go then, right?" I asked, grinning and putting my hands behind my head. I looked over at the four others and just kept the smile on my face.

"You seem pretty cheerful for something that might end up killing us all." Liz stated, but then Derek chuckled. All eyes were on him, who had the same smirk that I had on his own lips.

"He's excited," he explained, "He wants to test his new powers, and fight in a life or death battle. I'm the same way." There was an odd silence through out our table. It went on for about a minute, when I broke it with a snicker. It continued, and Derek soon joined in, followed by Liz. It soon broke out to all out laughter. Even Kurama and Koenma joined in lightly. I could only imagine what the people around us were thinking. "Maybe someone told a funny joke!" would be a thought, but only if they knew we were laughing about the fate of the world.

We all walked out together, after about 30 minutes of talking and coffee. Derek and I were especially interested in the past history of the Spirit Detectives. As it turns out, there was only need for three detectives prior to us two. One was a woman named Sanada Kuroko. She was the very first spirit detective of Earth. Her replacement was Shinobu Sensui who, like me, fought demons at a young age. Then came Yusuke, who by far had the hardest time being a detective, but seeing what I was up against now, I might have to disagree.

Kurama and Koenma were planning on heading straight back to the Spirit World, so they were walking us back to the truck. We were just opening the doors, when I saw Kurama get a panicked look on his face,

"K-Kurama? Are you okay?" I asked, having never seen Kurama look like that. His face had gone slightly white, and his eyes were wide. Koenma looked at him, and seemed to understand what had happened.

"Already?" he asked, shaking slightly.

"Yes," Kurama answered with a nod. I growled lowly, not knowing what they were talking about.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?!" I barked out, hating feeling in the dark about things like this. Kurama looked directly at me.

"Shura…is here already." Kurama informed us. This time it was my turn to get white in the face, eyes wide. I glanced over at Derek and Liz. Derek had started to sweat lightly, and Liz had covered her mouth.

_Shura's here? Already?! But…but he isn't supposed to be here for another five whole days! _My mind was in a panic. I didn't know what to do.

"Where?" Derek finally asked, after a moment of silence.

"On the other side of the country…New York City." Is the answer Kurama gave us.

"All the way there?!" Liz exclaimed, "How…how are we going to get there?"

"I will get us there, Liz." Kurama assured her. He then looked at Derek and myself. "Do you two have your weapons?"

"Yea," I said, "There in the truck."

"Get them." He ordered, "And go change into whatever your going to fight in. You're going to have to be ready for anything." We all nodded, and grabbed out weapons from the truck.

I didn't change clothes, seeing as I just fought in my street clothes all the time anyways, and I didn't really like the Gi. The Tetsaru was sheathed and I had the strap around my shoulder so the blade hung behind my back. Derek quickly changed into the black training robes that he had been in after his training with Kurama, and his katana was at his side. Liz stayed the same as well, wearing cargo pants and a t-shirt, with a pair of tennis shoes. Her daggers were at either side of her. Kurama kept his same clothing, which was a blue collared shirt, and a pair of slacks, with an odd type of shoe that I had never seen before. Koenma was the one who made the big change. He changed into a pair of blue robes with what looked like a red scarf type deal around his neck, but it wasn't as long. He still had the pacifier, of course. Kurama then looked at me,

"Corey…I have something for you. From Gero." He told me. I blinked,

"From Gero? Really? What is it?" I asked, curiously. I watched as Kurama pulled out what looked like a Venus Fly Trap from his pocket and set it on the ground. It suddenly grew larger and opened its mouth. Inside of it was what looked like a normal leather jacket. Kurama reached in and pulled it out, handing it to me.

"He told me that you'd never wear a Gi, so he created this jacket. It's a special armor, actually, that will help deflect weak demonic energy. He didn't know how well it would do against Shura, but anything helps." I slowly took off my sheathed blade and rested it on the ground, and slipped on the jacket. It was very comfortable, and I felt a surge of Spirit Energy running through it.

"Wow…thanks, Kurama. And remind me to get in contact with the old man." The demon nodded, then looked at the rest of the group as I slipped back over the sheath's strap.

"Everyone ready?" he asked us, which we all responded by with a nod, "Alright then. I think we all know the drill." We all took Kurama's arm with a hand, and in a moment, the sensation of being transported by Kurama's plant took over.


	8. A City in Ruin

_**Chapter 8**_

_A City in Ruin_

I opened my eyes to find my friends and myself in a large city. We had made it to New York safely. Now, I had always wanted to visit this place, and go see a Broadway Show or whatever, but not in it's current condition. There was screaming all around from people evacuating the city. Gunfire could be heard over it. _The military?_ I thought to myself. It would make sense, seeing as this is American soil, and the marines and army men would probably be defending it. They probably think it's a terrorist attack, which is true, I suppose. I looked over at Kurama, who was standing in the front.

"It seems as though the government has put this place under quarantine." He informed us. We all then began forward towards the heart of the city.

As I looked around, I quickly noticed that there were no signs of demons of any sort. Derek must have caught on to what I was thinking, because he leaned in next to me and spoke,

"They must be with Shura still…or the military might be holding them off." He stated, and I was pretty sure he was right. Shura had an army, but it was mostly consisting of weaker demons. Man-made weapons should be able to hold them off, at least for a little while.

It took us fifteen minutes to reach the main part of the city, and it was having better days. Buildings were on fire or in rubble. The whole place reeked of demonic stench. Before us, about half a mile away, was what we had thought…the army. They had tanks, guns, everything that a proper army should have, and they were fighting. The place was a mad house. I looked closer, and saw the human army was facing off against the demonic one, and it seemed to be just a stand off. We were still far down the street, but it from what I could see the demons had the Empire State Building as their H.Q. Before we could go any further, I heard a sound from an ally way. I looked over, and three scaly demons were coming at us, claws out.

"Agh! Their terrible!" Liz shouted in surprise. It only just hit me Liz had only seen Derek and Kurama, who both looked normal.

"Well, they are demons…" Koenma commented. I looked closely at them, and could sense their demonic powers.

Only a lower C-class… I deciphered. I yawned quietly and started to walk in the other direction.

"Corey!!" I heard Liz yell, and I turned my head to look at her, "What are you doing? Go kill them!"

"Waste of my time…you do it, Liz." I said. Derek let out a chuckle and began to walk with me.

"Derek?! You, too?!" She shouted, sounding shocked.

"I agree with Corey…you're the one who wanted to test your skills, Liz, so go at it. We'll be over there…" he informs her, pointing over to an abandoned mini mart. There was a bench out front of it, and I took a seat and looked at Liz, smirking,

"Come on, Liz. Hurry up." I told her, and she just glared at me.

"Fine! I will!" She drew out her dagger into her left hand, and a throwing knife, which she must have kept hidden on the inside of her belt, into her right. I soon felt the sudden rush of energy coming from her as she opened her territory. Derek, who had gone into the store, came back out with two root beers and handed me one, grinning,

"Look! There on the house!" he said and laughed, sitting down on the other side of the bench. I glanced over at Kurama and Koenma, who were both watching Liz. I also turned my attention onto my friend. I had never seen Liz fight before.

She started quickly, running at the first one with speed that rivaled Cross Blade's. The first demon soon found a dagger in its chest, and Liz withdrew it fast, for the other two were coming straight at her. The one on the right took a swing at her, and she dropped down and gave it a mighty kick in the gut, causing it to double over. With the throwing knife, she quickly flung it with great precision over to the other demon, getting it right in the forehead and causing it to drop. With her dagger out and the other demon recovering, she leapt over its head and landed behind it, stabbing it quickly in the back. It gawked, and fell forward onto the ground. Liz panted a little bit and looked back at us, and grinned.

"How was that?" she asked, grabbing the throwing knife from out of the demon's head and wiping off the blood. The same went for her dagger. At this point, Derek and I had finished our drinks and stood up, smirking,

"Great, Liz." Derek told her.

"Yea…you can take the rest of 'em. We'll go take a nap." I joked, and the two of us laughed. She scowled at us,

"No way! You two got to help!" she yelled back at us, but stopped and turned towards the army. Eleven demons had gotten passed the masses of soldiers, and were heading right towards us. I grinned and touched the hilt of my blade,

"Now it's getting good…" I said, and glanced back at Derek, who had already drawn his katana out and was holding it at ready, "Now you can see the strength of real fighters, Liz."

"The one who kills the most wins." Derek said to me, and I merely grinned.

"Fine by me…but don't go crying when I win." And with that we both took off, and I drew the Tetsaru out of it's sheath. The flow of spiritual power came into my body, enhancing my strength and speed, along with my spirit energy.

We reached the demons, and I made a quick upper slash with my blade, decapitating a rather gross looking monster. It's head fell to the ground, and the body dropped like a rock.

"One!" I yelled out, grinning like a kid in a candy store. I looked over at Derek, who had just sliced one of the beasts in half. Another demon body was down, as well.

"Two." He said smugly, smirking at me. I frowned and turned to the next one. It swung a large claw at me, and I jumped upwards and slashed down at it, mimicking Derek's move of cutting it in half. Our little competition went on until we were tied at five.

"Only one left." I said, pointing my blade at it. It was the largest of the group, about twelve feet high. He looked like a giant cat. We both ran at it at the exact same time. As we ran, it held out its large paws and extended the razor sharp claws, each one going for us. Derek jumped into the air, avoiding his set of claws, while I rolled underneath them. The claw would have put a scrape mark in my new jacket, but like Kurama had told me, it with encased with spiritual power, causing no damage at all to it or me. The thought made me grin, and I kept going towards the creature, and jumped up, sword out. I made contact with its chest, puncturing it, but at the same time Derek had cut it's throat with his katana. The body fell backwards, and we were both standing atop of it. I looked over at him and shrugged,

"Tie?" I asked, wiping off the blood on the blade with the beasts own fur, and sheathed it.

"Agreed." Derek replied, merely flicking his katana and the blood splattered to the ground. We hopped down and walked back over to Kurama and the others,

"Impressive." Koenma complimented, giving us a smirk.

"Yes," Kurama added, "You both have gone a long way since we first met. Corey, I see your training with Gero went very well." I grinned, holding up my fist and held up the pinky and index finger, giving him a rock on sign. I looked over to Liz and grinned more,

"See? That's how you take on demons."

We left the spot in which the demons had attacked us and moved forward towards the military. They had set up a wall of soldiers and tanks, which were combating the horde of weaker demons. A tent was set up behind the wall, and we figured that was where the general was. We moved towards it, but it wasn't long before a soldier stopped us.

"Civilians cannot be allowed out here, this place is under quarantine." He stated loudly, arms down at his side. I glared at him,

"Step aside, Army boy! We need to talk to whosever in command here!" I tried to step forward, but was greeted by the butt of a rifle into my stomach, "Gurk!" I hunched over and held my now sore stomach.

"Corey!" Liz exclaimed, moving over to me and putting her hand on my back. "Are you alright?" she asked, sounding worried.

I nodded, and stood back up, grinning darkly.

"Oh yea…I just didn't expect to be attack here, with fellow humans." I looked back at the soldier, who had a worried look on his face. Clearly, he didn't expect me to get back up so fast. "Look, pal, I'm going to give you one more chance to let me by and see your commander, or I'll personally kick your ass." That got him scared. He took another step back and I advanced.

"Uh…Uhh…Anderson! O'Malley! Kent! Help me out here!" He yelled. Three other soldiers came out of the tent and had their guns held up, and they were aiming at our heads. Derek stepped forward and stood next to me.

"Stay back!" One yelled, shaking his gun at us. I sighed lightly and slid my right foot forward.

"Know what to do?" I asked my friend, giving him a quick glance. He nodded, and what took place next happened in a fraction of a second. We had drawn our blades, and each sliced two rifles in half. The parts slid off, and left the soldiers shaking in their boots as they held onto the other half. At this point, Kurama stepped forward.

"We don't want to fight with you, sirs, so please go and fetch your leader so we may speak to him." His eyes closed for a moment, and when he re-opened them and stared at the soldiers, they all got a horrified look on their faces,

"Y-y-yes, s-sir!" One managed to stutter out, and they all ran into the nearby tent. Kurama turned back to us, a simple smile on his face,

"Well…that settled that." He said. I merely blinked at him. I never did get to see what look Kurama had given those men, but whatever it was, it must have been terrifying.

It only took a few minutes for a large looking man to appear out of the tent. I don't say large as in fat, I mean large as in big and muscular, ageing in his late 50's. He was at least 6'6", and had baggy eyes. He was draped in the full military general uniform, complete with the hat and metals. He walked right in front of us, and stared us down. Quite literally, seeing as I was the tallest there, and he had a good 8 inches on me.

"So…" He began, his voice oozing with authority, "You five are the ones who are causing my troops trouble." I opened my mouth to protest, but he stopped me by holding up his hand. He looked down at the ground and saw the severed guns in the dirt. He leaned down and lifted one up and examined it.

"It seems like you have skill though…" he then looked ever farther past us, to where we had been before, and had left the bodies of the demons in a pile, "Skill that we diffidently do not have. The ability to battle these…monstrosities." He looked now directly at Derek and myself, "You two. How old are you, and what are your names?"

"Sixteen, sir." I said, giving him a solute. It seemed necessary. I liked this guy, and it looked like he was going to trust us, "And my name is Corey Kartana."

"And I'm seventeen, sir." Derek replied, also giving him a solute, "And I'm Derek Maison."

"I see…Kartana and Maison…" He looked back at Liz, Kurama, and Koenma. "And you three?"

"Liz Rain, sixteen." Liz informed him

"Suichi Minomoto…you may call me Kurama…" Kurama told him, not bothering to tell him his age.

"And I am Koenma." The Prince of the Spirit World said, also not bothering with age. More then likely the general wouldn't believe them.

"I see…well I am General Luke Howell." He returned our solutes, and we all dropped our hands, "Well, then. Let's get started. Are you five really here to battle these monsters?"

"We sure are." I told him, grinning. I pointed towards the Empire State Building. "I know this is going to sound weird, but we need to get in here, but we can't have any back-up. Can you give us four cover fire until we get in? Liz is going to stay here and help out…right, Liz?" I asked, glancing over at her as she scowled at me.

"Yea, yea…" she grumbled. I still knew she didn't want to play back up, but she just wasn't trained to fight against Shura. I looked back at Luke and waited for his reply. He put his hand to his chin and thought for a few moments, then replied.

"Very well. I believe I can trust you all. I have a pretty good knack when it comes to weeding out the enemy, and I can tell by just looking at you all that you're good people." He moved past us and turned to his men, whom I assumed were captains or whatever.

"What're the orders, sir?" One asked hastily, sounding nervous.

"You see these people there?" Luke asked, pointing at us, "The boys are going into the enemies H.Q. and taking their leader by storm. We are going to give them cover fire until they make it in. The girl, Rain, is going be helping us out." The men looked at us, and gave their leader a slightly confused look, which was retaliated with a loud. "Move out!!" by Luke, and with that they all moved to tell their troops the plan. The general turned back to us,

"Well…are you going to need anything before you head in there?" he asked. I shook my head and smirked.

"Nada. We'll handle things from here. Thank you, General." And gave him a salute, as did the others from behind me. He returned our solutes once more and withdrew a cigar from his right pocket and lit it up with a lighter. After blowing a stream of smoke, he looked back at us,

"Then give 'em hell." He turned to his men, and bellowed one word. "Charge!!"

The soldiers all moved forward, along with the tanks and jeeps, straight at Shura's encampment. My group moved after them, Derek and myself withdrew our blades again, Liz took out two daggers and dual wielded them. Kurama withdrew a rose from his pocket, and with the power of his demonic energy, produced a rose whip from it. Koenma, who wasn't a fighter, merely followed after us in suit. Derek, Kurama, Koenma and myself made our way to the front of the line, where the demons had already gone into battle with the humans. Gunshots were everywhere. Screams from both human and demon rang through the air. I ignored it all. My sword swung through the demon flesh like butter, easily taking them down as I moved forward, Derek and Kurama hacking away along side me with their weapons.

Our pace was slow, because it seemed like the hoard of demons never ended. They just kept coming out of nowhere!

Shura must have had them planted incase a full out charge was commanded. Guess he really didn't expect us to be here! We continued our pursuit, but after ten minutes of straight fighting, we had hardly gotten anywhere. Finally, I just stopped swinging and looked at Derek.

"Cover for me!" I yelled. He gave me a look of wonder, but nodded and fought off any enemies that came near me. I held up my sword into the air, as spiritual energy began to swarm around it. The charge only took a second. "Move!!" I screamed, and Derek did just that. He leapt into the air, back flipping and landing behind me, as I swung the Tetsaru towards the enemies.

"Spirit…Slash!" My blade then unleashed a wave of spirit energy that I had built up inside of it, sending the shockwave right at the demons. It plowed over at least fifty of them, giving us a straight pass right into the buildings front doors.

"Move!" Kurama ordered, and we all ran towards it, knocking down any creature that came into out way. I lead the group, and right as we got to the door, I quickly opened it. Once we were all inside, Kurama laid down a plant seed that quickly grew into huge vines that attached themselves to the door.

"The vines will make sure that nothing can get back in." He said, and walked back to the group.

"Well, it looks like we all made it alive." Derek commented, looking at the rest of us.

"Right. Well, no use wasting time." I said, and turned to the stairway. "Let's go have us a heart to heart with Shura."


	9. The Begining of the End

**_Chapter 9_**

_The Beginning of the End_

We soon found out that the elevators were not operational, not that we'd have advised our selves to take them. Shura had to know we were coming now, and what better way to get rid of someone then drop them 50 stories to the ground. We made our way up the long stairway of the Empire State Building, moving at a jogging speed. We didn't want to over extort ourselves before even getting to the top.

Once we reached the twentieth story, we stopped to take a break. I leaned against the wall to catch my breath.

"I hate running…" I grumbled, exhaling and inhaling slowly.

"I hear ya…" Derek agreed, crossing his arms over his chest as he took his place next to me, also leaning against a wall. Koenma had gone to a crouched position, and Kurama stood as though all that running was nothing.

"Let's continue…I have a bad feeling about stopping here…" And as though it was a cue, we heard an explosion coming from the center of the floor. I went inside without hesitation, and was slightly amazed at what I saw. Derek followed after me and his jaw had dropped. There, with about ten demon bodies around her, was Jade. She was wearing the clothes that I had seen her in the first time we met, and her hair was done in a ponytail. She blinked and looked at us, and smirked.

"Well look who it is; Derek and Corey. Good to see you could make it." She gave her innocent smile, which caused Derek to chuckle lightly. I gave him a dark glare,

Just what we need… I looked back at her and grinned as well, "Well, Thief, what're you doing here? I thought you weren't going to do anything about Shura."

"Well…" she said, smiling at Derek and not even looking at me (which made me glare at her again), "I owe your friend here something." She said with a glimmer in her eyes. Derek blinked and then stood straight up, and walked over to her, smiling,

"Thank you for coming. I…we…appreciate it."

"The hell I do!" I shouted at them, but they were just staring at each other.

"I hope you're not counting this as our date." Derek said to her, causing her to laugh.

"Perhaps…I am going outa my way to help you all." She winked and leaned in, kissing Derek on the cheek and making him turn bright red.

"Okay!!" I yelled, moving towards the two of them and separating them, "I swear to God you two choose the stupidest places to kiss!" At this time, Kurama stepped forward and looked at the three of us.

"Who are you, young lady?" he asked, hands at his side.

"Oh. I'm Jade. You must be Kurama, right? I've heard a lot about the great spirit fox demon."

"Yes. Well, Jade, could you please go and assist Liz outside with the demons. I'm sure you can be a great assent to her and the military." He smiled kindly at her. Jade nodded at him and looked back at Derek.

"Be careful, okay?" she asked him, taking his hand, making them both go a little red in the cheeks.

"I will…you too, 'kay?" she nodded, reached over and kissed his lips quickly, and then took off back down the stairs, leaving Derek in a bit of a daze.

"Well…" I interrupted the quiet, "Shall we continue on our mission to save the damn world?!" I yelled at Derek to snap him out of it. He stirred and then nodded, and the four of us once again began up the stairway to Shura.

We continued up the stairway, going past the floors with ease. Surprisingly, there weren't any demons coming down to stop us. This made me feel a little uneasy, but at least it was saving our strength.

I'm coming for you, Shura… I thought to myself as we ran.

And then, we made it to the top floor.

We pushed open the doors to the final floor of the building and walked inside. As I looked, it didn't take long to notice how different it was from any of the other rooms. One difference being that it looked way to demonic to be made humans. Spiked pillars were coming up from the ground, and two fountains of red liquid were coming from either side of a red carpet. I shuttered, thinking of what the liquid was. As we walked down the carpet, at the very end stood a golden throne. I stopped dead as I stared at the creature before me, who was sitting on it. He had long brown hair that was braided into a rat-tail, and he wore robes that looked like he was royalty. He had four pointed ears, two on each side. As his gaze fell upon us, he merely gave us a sadistic grin.

"Welcome to my palace." He said, his voice sounding still young, but it made me shiver, "I'm in the process of re-decorating, but once I get rid of those damned humans at the bottom, I will be able to make it look much better."

"So I take it you're Shura!" I yelled, gripping the hilt of my sword tightly.

"Correct, human. I am Shura, son of Yomi. So, I take it you're Spirit World's last line of defense. How pathetic…" He stood up and then looked at Kurama, and grinned even more, "Kurama. It is good to see you again. I haven't seen you since I was a young boy. How is your family doing?" Kurama's persona suddenly changed from calm to anger.

"You should know quite well that they have all passed on, Shura. Human's don't have as long to live as demons." Although his voice was calm, the icy glare he gave Shura frightened even myself, "This is where your rain of terror ends, Shura." He withdrew his rose that he had kept securely in his pocket, transforming it into his Rose Whip. Derek and I nodded to each other and readied our own blades.

"Do you honestly think you three can beat me? You're all only A-class demons at best, while I am a SS-Class. Fools." Koenma then took his time to step forward.

"Hello, Shura." He said calmly, hands in his pockets. Shura stared at him, as if trying to figure out who he was, and then it dawned on him.

"Koenma…lord of the Spiritual World. The pleasure is all mine. What brings the son of King Yama here, to this place?" he asked, standing firm.

"I've come here to help my friends defeat you." He said, softly. Obviously, we didn't want to tell Shura what we were planning to do. I finally took a step forward.

"Enough of the formalities! Let's do this!" I glanced over at Derek, then Kurama, who both nodded. We then proceeded to rush Shura from three different angles. My spirit energy blasted through the Tetsaru, and it gave it a blue aura. Derek snapped his fingers, and flames erupted around his own katana. Kurama merely moved forward with his Rose Whip. Through the corner of my eye, I saw Koenma take a step back and take out his pacifier.

Good…he's preparing the Ma-Fukan. I thought to myself, and then turned my full attention on Shura, who hadn't moved at all. Glaring and gripping my blade, I swung at him with terrible force.

"Take…this!" I yelled as my blade made contact. For a split second, I thought I had already taken him down with one hit, but then the reality set in. Shura didn't move at all, but my sword merely hit him as if it was a wooden stick. He held up his hand and a red ball of energy started growing in it. My eyes widened, and just before he attacked, Derek had leapt down and hit Shura's extended arm with his fiery blade.

"Erupt!" My friend yelled, and flames blasted out of the katana from every direction, catching Shura off guard. I took that time to jump back and switched my sword to my left hand, extending my right hand and index finger. The blue spiritual energy grew in it as I charged the Spirit Gun. Shura had immerged from the flames, unscathed again, and gave Derek a mighty kick into the ribs, sending him flying into the nearby spiked pillar, utterly destroying it. He lay motionless there.

As Shura turned his attention back onto me, he moved to attack with his fists, but this time it was Kurama who came to my aid. The rose whip grappled his right arm and he pulled it back.

"Demon traitor!" Shura yelled and with his left hand, palm out, blasted an array of red demonic energy directly at Kurama, who managed to avoid the full extent of the blow by rolling to the left, but his left right arm got hit by attack. His sleeve was destroyed, and his arm was burnt, but he kept holding onto the whip. Luckily, that was all the time I needed.

"Spirit Gun!" I shouted, as I unleashed the energy that was being built up in my finger. The blue bullet, which I had charged into a blast as large as a teacher's globe, erupted from my finger and directly at Shura, whom was hit by it had point blank. "Got 'im!" I yelled out in excitement, but it was quickly cut short as a blast of flaming energy hit me in the chest. My body went hurdling into the ground and sliding across it, causing rubble to be brought up as I did. I forced myself to sit back up and stared in disbelief at Shura, who's had a singe mark on his robes.

"Well…that was unexpected…" Shura said, walking towards me, "Who would have thought that you had so much kick." Holding out his hand, a golden ring began to form around it. "This is my Demon Cyclone attack. One hit with this will probably kill you." And he began to laugh. He laughed like a lunatic, and all I could do was sit there in shock.

Move, you idiot! I yelled at myself, trying to get up, but no muscle would move. This…always happens! Why can't I get up and fight, goddammit! It's just like with Cross Blade! Before I could give myself anymore self pity, it seemed like Shura was about to attack, but I was wrong. Coming from seemingly nowhere, Derek had re-joined the fight. His katana, which was incased in flames, shined brilliantly.

"Ignite!" Came a word from his mouth and, catching Shura off guard, he slashed the air, and flames blasted from the blade in a pointed array and straight into the side of the demon's face. The hit was good, and he went skidding across the floor, but did not fall. I got up fast and Derek and I both held our blades at ready. Shura turned his attention back to the two of us and growled low. His face had a burn mark on it. From behind him appeared Kurama, gripping his whip still.

"You…damned people…" He muttered, but then something caught his eye. He looked over and saw Koenma, still charging the Ma-Fukan. He held up a single finger in a fashion that looked like he was going to use the Spirit Gun. Koenma, who had his eyes closed for concentration, merely just stood there.

"Koenma!! Watch out!" Derek yelled, trying to get the prince of the Spirit World's attention, but it was to late. Shura fired a red demonic bullet out of his finger, much smaller then my own, and it hit the pacifier in Koenma's mouth, which not only forced Koenma down, but destroyed the binki.

"No…" I muttered out, seeing our last shred of hope being destroyed. Kurama quickly moved to Koenma, to see if he was all right. With a quick examination, he looked back at Derek and me.

"He'll survive…but we have more pressing matters to attend to." Derek and I moved over to Kurama, and stared down Shura, who was laughing again.

"You fools! Did you honestly think a barrier spell was going to get me? Ha!" He then began to power up, sending shockwaves of demonic power through out the room.

"Dammit…" I said quietly, watching this happen. I moved forward to get ready to fight, when Kurama held out an arm to stop me.

"Wait." He said, calmly. I blinked and looked at him,

"What Kurama?" I asked.

"Yea, shouldn't we all fight him at once? Maybe…we'd stand a chance, ya know?" Asked Derek, who I could also see was frightened, but who could blame him? I couldn't, that's for sure. I was just as scared as he was. There we were, facing certain doom, and Kurama stood there perfectly calm.

"I will fight him in one-on-one combat, and try to weaken him as much as possible. Then, you two will have to finish him off."

"But…Kurama…no offense, but your not that much stronger then we are right now." Derek explained, "I seriously think we should do three-on-one." Kurama looked back at both of us and smirked.

"Trust me on this one." He then moved forward about ten feet, closing the gab between Shura and himself to about fifteen feet. Shura looked amused,

"So, Kurama, you are fighting me alone, eh? Are you going to bring him out?" he asked. Kurama merely smiled back at him,

"I believe so…I told your father that I never let anything go forever, and now seems as good a time as any to prove that." And with those last words, a smoke appeared around Kurama's body, encircling him in it. I couldn't see anything, but after a few moments of this smoke, Kurama's energy skyrocketed.

After about a minute, the smoke cleared, and a new being stood there where Kurama had once before. It was still Kurama, but his appearance and power had changed dramatically. His red hair was replaced by silver, and he wore a sliver robe. He was bare foot, and had white fox ears in replace of the human looking ones he had before. He no longer had a whip, but a vine blade that wrapped around his right arm and extended for about three feet. He stared at Shura with red eyes.

"Now…let's do this." He said quietly, his voice darker and sounding slightly raspy. The voice reminded me of a cold-blooded killer.

"Wh-what? How? Huh??" I asked, bewildered by the transformation.

"Youko." Came the voice of Koenma from behind me. I turned to look at him.

"Youko?" I asked, still as confused as before.

"The Silver Fox demon, Youko. Kurama's original form. You see, Kurama wasn't born in the half human body he had. He was once what you see before you, a powerful fox demon. He was attacked, but before his soul was taken to the Spiritual Realm, he sent it to the womb of a human woman, and thus was born as Suichi.

"During an event called the Dark Tournament, Kurama gained the ability to transform back into this state with a certain item, and soon learned to do it on command. In the Demon World Tournament, he said he was never going to use it again. Apparently, he told Yomi different."

"So…we actually stand a chance now?" Derek asked, trying to force a smile on his lips.

"Perhaps…originally, Youko Kurama would be able to rival Shura's power, but Kurama hasn't brought him out in 75 years. His skills will be rusty, and he probably is nowhere near as powerful as he was before. He is an S-Class demon, but Shura is still stronger. We can only hope that Kurama can weaken him enough for you two to beat him." I nodded slowly and turned back to watch the battle that was about to unfold.

"Good luck, Kurama…" I said under my breath.

Kurama and Shura were still staring each other down, until finally Shura spoke.

"You've gotten weak, Youko. You used to be much stronger. In those days, you might stand a chance, but I'm afraid you're still no match for me now."

"Is that right?" Youko Kurama asked, a slender smile on his face. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, Shura. Even if, for whatever reason, I cannot defeat you, there are still two more people who can." He turned his head and looked directly at Derek and me, and then back to Shura. "Ready?"

"Of course…I might actually be able to flex my muscles now!" Shura declared, his demonic energy flowing freely again. It was matched by Kurama's own energy, and electricity ran through the air.

"No more stalling!" Kurama shouted, and ran at Shura with incredible speed, and the second round for the battle of the world began.


	10. Attempts at Victory

_**Chapter 10**_

_Attempts at Victory_

The battle had suddenly taken an abrupt turn. As Kurama and Shura battled on, I could feel a bit of a hope rising back in me. Seeing Kurama in his true form with powers I had never imagined him having before, it seemed like we might actually have chance to beat Shura!

Kurama swung his vine sword at Shura, who narrowly avoided it by leaping backwards, but it seemed as thought Kurama had planned that. With a flip of his wrist, a pillar of vines came out from the ground beneath them, and attempted to impale Shura upon them. Shura, once again, tried to avoid these as well, but was not as lucky. One of them scraped his right arm, shredding his sleeve and allowing blood to flow down it freely.

"He hit him!" Derek declared, grinning and clenching his fist.

"Yea, but Shura doesn't look to happy about it." I pointed out, seeing the rage appear in the demon lord's eyes. The two stopped, and Kurama's eyes had suddenly widened. Shura merely grinned at him, a fanged grin. One that made me realize we really were not on the winning side of this fight. Something was…not right.

"You know…don't you, Kurama?" He asked, his voice dripping with darkness.

"Yes," Kurama replied, regaining his composure and letting his vine sword fall to the ground, "It would seem as though I have to use a different kind of tactic on you, Shura." And then a silence filled the room. The two just stared at each other, not moving, not talking. It seemed like they weren't even breathing.

"What the hell?" I asked, watching the two warriors, "What's going on? What does Kurama know about Shura?"

"Beats me…" Derek answered, still gripping his katana.

"Shura has been holding back," Koenma spoke up, and Derek and I looked at him. "He's been checking his power, playing with you three. He knew you were no match for him, and he played with you like sport."

"What?!" I yelled, swinging my sword in the air, "But…how can that be?? Kurama almost had him there!"

"No…" Koenma said, "A weaker Shura had him. He's only been using maybe a tenth of his true power."

"Only one tenth?!!" I shouted, and that bit of hope I had felt vanished within me. How is that possible? How can a being me so strong? Dammit!

Kurama finally made the first move. He started running to the side, and Shura followed in suit. After about 10 yards, Kurama darted forward, and attacked Shura with his fist. Now, I had never seen Kurama try to fight with hand-to-hand combat. He always seemed to use weapons or long range attacks. At any rate, Shura easily blocked the punch with the palm of his right hand, and gave the fox demon a tremendous punch right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Shura then unleashed a threshold of brutal punches, and ended it with a roundhouse kick to the side of Kurama's face, sending him tumbling down to the ground. He was a bloody mess.

"Kurama!!" Derek and I yelled in unison. Koenma remained silent. Shura laughed once again and began to walk towards him.

"You're a fool, Spirit Fox." Shura declared, leaning down and lifting Kurama up by the collar of his robe, "Thinking you, a fighter who hasn't even transformed into his true form in nearly a century, could defeat me." He brought his fist down again and punched Kurama once more in the stomach, causing him to spurt up blood.

"You bastard!!" I yelled and tried to move forward, but Koenma grabbed the back of my coat and yanked me back.

"Wait!" He hissed, "Kurama has something planned."

"But what?! He's getting his ass handed to him over there!" I shouted back, not understanding how Kurama could possibly have something planned when Shura was beating him to a freaking pulp.

"Just calm down and watch." Koenma said, and let go of my jacket. I sighed and nodded, turning my attention back to the battle.

Kurama still seemed to be at the disadvantage here, as Shura elbowed the back of his head, forcing Kurama to the ground.

"Time to die, Spirit Fox. Your rain is over." Shura then began to formulate a red energy in his two palms, which were pointed upward. But, before he could do anything, out of his right palm, sprouted what looked like a seedling. "What?!" Shura cried out in shock, "I-I can't use my attack!" Kurama then slowly rose from the ground, as if from the dead itself, and stood tall over Shura.

"You were a fool, Shura, to think that you had the prestige to defeat me. I knew your father and knew what he had taught you. I have been around for over a thousand years. You cannot beat me with sheer force."

Kurama then examined the sprout that was growing out of Shura's hand. "Seed of the Death Plant…grow."

And with that last word, the plant erupted violently out of Shura's entire right arm. The blood and flowers mixed together, and it actually looked very beautiful. Shura cried out in pain and jumped backwards out of Kurama's way. Unfortunately for us, Kurama suddenly collapsed back onto the ground.

"Kurama!" I shouted, and this time ran over to him, Derek and Koenma following in suit. I lifted him up slowly,

"Hey…Kurama…you gonna be okay?" He opened his eyes slowly and looked at me. He had already reverted back to his red headed human self.

"Yes, Corey…I'll survive this, at least. I used up too much demonic energy attempting the Death Plant on Shura. He truly is powerful. More powerful then I can handle at my strength now. I have weakened him for the two of you," He said, now looking from Derek to myself. "He will have no control over his right arm, and he has stressed a bit of his demonic powers. I believe he is only a little stronger then Youko now."

"Heh…that doesn't help us much, pal." I said, grinning grimly. Derek looked over at me.

"Well…I guess this is it." He said, also wearing the same kind of grin I had.

"Don't worry, Kurama. We'll take care of this." I told the demon, and as I did he passed back out. I allowed Koenma to move in and take Kurama to the side.

"Be careful you two." He told Derek and me, and we both nodded. Once Kurama and Koenma were out of the way, Derek and I stood by and watched Shura, who was recovering from the blow dealt to him by Kurama.

"So…" I began, dropping the flat part of my sword on my shoulder to rest it, "How do we do this?"

"Well…we can either two on one him, or fight in turns." Derek replied, letting the top of his katana hover inches over the ground.

"I like that turns one." I commented, "But who goes first?"

"Dunno…I guess we could-" Derek began to say, but I interrupted.

"Dibs." I said quickly, grinning at him.

"What?!" He yelled, outraged.

"Dibs. I just called dibs on it. Tough luck, pal." I said, sticking out my tongue then laughing.

"You can't call dibs on the fate of the world!" He argued.

"I just did. Everyone knows about the dibs rule. Duh."

"Why you…fine." Derek grumbled. I grinned again and looked over at Shura, who still seemed to be in pain.

"Looks like I get the first bout!" I said, laughing. Why was I laughing? Maybe because I knew that we were all screwed. Maybe I had lost my mind. Either way, I was going to fight Shura to the death, and nothing was going to stop me. Derek leapt back by Kurama and Koenma and waited for his turn to fight. I took a few more steps forward to bridge the gap between Shura and me.

"Well, Shura…how's the arm feeling?" I asked, letting my sword fall from my shoulder, and then gripping it firmly at a ready position. Shura had ripped off the flowers that were growing out of his right arm, but it remained limp at his side.

"That doesn't concern you!" He snarled, "I don't need my right arm to defeat a lowly human shit like yourself!"

"Jeez…gotta potty-mouth now, don't ya? I bet it smells pretty, too!" I laughed, which only aggravated him even more.

"Time to die, boy!" He yelled and blasted at me at full speed. The only thing I had time to do was swing my sword, which he caught with his left hand. I felt his demon energy rush through it, but the energy in my sword was able to push it back, at least a bit. He gripped harder, and lifted the blade and myself still on it up into the air, and then through me across the room into a nearby wall. I felt it crack from the force, and I slid down it and quickly picked up the Tetsaru once again.

"You are a fool." Shura said quietly, as he began to pace to the side, a wicked grin on his lips. I countered his pace with my own, not letting him get any closer or farther away.

"Why's that?" I asked, smirking.

"You honestly thought that you, a human, could defeat one of the most powerful demons in Demon World? Pathetic."

"I'm pathetic?" I asked, and then gave out a hollow laugh, "You're the one who killed his own father just for power purposes. That's what's pathetic." That comment didn't seem to make Shura any to happier, for in what seemed like a blink of an eye, he was right in front of me, eyes flaring with rage. With just a single punch to my side, I felt almost every one of my ribs break. I screamed in pain as the shockwave from the punch sent me down to the ground about twenty feet away. Shura began to walk towards me,

"You know nothing." Shura snarled, filled with rage. "I loved my father, but he was in the way. He didn't understand that we needed to take over all three worlds. He lost his initial goal." I struggled to stand up, but as I was almost at my feet, Shura side kicked me in my jaw, which caused me to spiral a few times back to the ground. My lip was bleeding.

"Corey!" I heard Derek call out, but I just held out my hand for him to calm down.

"And what goal was that?" I asked, wiping off my chin and lip. Shura grinned again,

"To rule all three worlds with an iron fist. Ever since he became one of the three kings of the Demon Realm, he had always dreamed of the power to unite the Human, Demon, and Spirit Worlds, and he would rule them all.

"Then, that damned half breed Yusuke Urameshi decided to start the Demon World Tournament, making everyone equals. He and my father fought, and although he won Yusuke had weakened him greatly, and he lost the next match. After that, he had seen what Enkii had done for the world, and decided it was better that way." He spit on the ground in disgust.

"So what? From what I hear Enkii was a great leader, and so were all the rulers after him!"

"They were all weak, and I've already proven that my dispatching both Enkii and my father. Soon, my demon army will be completed, and I will take over both the Human and Spiritual World, then I will kill the final three people who stand in my way; Mukuro, Yusuke, and Hiei." He then began to laugh again.

The laughter made me sick to my stomach, knowing that he got so much pleasure out of it all. So I went on impulse, and leapt at him, swinging my sword from left to right in a cross motion. Shura barely had time to dodge by jumping backwards, which gave me the advantage.

See, I had been doing something with my left hand that whole time, using the swing as a distraction. I held it up in a gun like fashion, and grit my teeth.

"Spirit Gun!" I shouted, and the energy I had been secretly charging barreled out of my fingertip and right at Shura, who had not seen that coming. He had no time to put up a demonic barrier, seeing as it was at point blank. The blast seemed to be even more powerful then my first shot. For whatever reason, I felt a little stronger, and also completely pissed off. Shura lay on the ground, clenching his chest with his left hand.

"Get up, Shura!" I yelled, standing over him, "I know your not done just yet!" I waited for him to get up. It was impossible for me to believe that just one shot would take him down…and I was right. Shura slowly rose to his feet, and put his left arm down. The Spirit Gun had left a rather gruesome looking scorch mark on Shura's chest, and had utterly destroyed the top part of his robes.

"Once again I underestimate you, boy. I suppose I might as well use my special technique…yes, I think it will be entertaining to see it used on a human being." And he once again began to laugh, but as he did I felt his energy rise.

The energy then began to move from his body into his arms, then his hands. At the same time, he began to float in the air, hovering over me about ten feet up. I took a step back and braced myself for the attack. Shura saw this and just laughed harder.

"Prepare to die, human! Hell's Flare!" And what came next, I don't think that I could have done anything to prepare for. He moved his palms right next to each other, and out of them came what looked slightly like the tip of a propane torch, only about ten times bigger. It shot at me, and I tried to move out of the way, but the blast hit me, and it hit me good.

"Waaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, as I was swallowed in world of pain and fire. It must have been what Hell was like, hence the name. The affect of the attack only lasted for about fifteen seconds, but when the flames died out, I stood there with my skin dark, my shirt was destroyed and my pants were ripped up. My eyes were widened, and I couldn't…feel…anything. No pain. No warmth. My body was dead, and I had a feeling I was going with it.

After a few seconds, Derek and Koenma came into my view, but I couldn't hear them, even though I saw them speaking to me.

I'm…dying…

It was the only logical thought. That's when my vision began to blur. Derek and Koenma faded out of my sights and joined a swarm of blobs that was now the world around me. I didn't even feel myself hit the floor as I lay motionless.

I wasn't even breathing…

My heart wasn't beating…


	11. Revenge and Power

**Chapter 11**

**Revenge and Power**

"Corey!!!" Derek yelled as his best friend hit the floor of the building. Derek and Koenma quickly ran over to Corey's body, which looked more like charcoal then a human body. Koenma kneeled down and touched Corey's forehead, and then his neck. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then turned to Derek, looking right at him now.

"I'm sorry, Derek…he's gone." Koenma said softly. Derek's eyes widened in horror. Corey, his best friend for nearly five years, was dead right before him. His sword lay beside him, after he had dropped it during the attack. Derek moved forward and kneeled down on the opposite side of Corey that Koenma was on. He felt his eyes begin to burn.

"Corey… goddammit… you… you idiot…" Derek mumbled out, not knowing what to say. Finally, he found the words.

"I'll avenge you, Corey." With that, he stood up, and looked over at Shura, who had merely just stood there. Derek looked down at the ground for a moment, and then back at Shura.

"I'm going to kill you, Shura, for killing my best friend." At that moment, demonic energy began to pour of Derek. Strength that he had never tapped into before was arising out of him. Shura seemed to notice this, and laughed.

"I see…you are an interesting one. Seeing your friend there, dead, has made you even stronger then you were before. You would make a fine member of my army. I never asked…what was your name?" he smiled pleasantly at Derek, whose facial expression's never changed. He was stone cold.

"I am Derek Maison, and my friend right there is Corey Kartana. We are the Spirit Detectives of Earth, and there is no way in hell that I would ever join you or anything that you stand for. This is where you die, Shura!" He stepped forward, placing his blade in front of him, and holding it horizontally.

"Is that so?" Asked Shura, who was still just smiling, "It's a shame, Derek. You could have made a great leader for my armies." And he let loose his own demonic power. The two warrior's energies began to spark with each other.

Koenma watched quietly as the two stressed with their energies.

Derek has raised his power to that of an upper A-Class demon…possibly even a lower S-Class. It's just like with Hiei and the others when Yusuke was killed. Derek had moved forward and started his battle with Shura. The first thing that was to happen was that Derek blasted Shura with an inferno of fire, coming out of his katana. Shura merely jumped through the flames, and countered Derek's attack with his own fire. It was similar to the attack that he had used on Corey, but smaller. Derek, being a fire apparition, wasn't as affected by it, and was able to actually cut away the flames and go back to the battle.

Actually…Derek is a lot like Hiei, which surprises me. I wonder what his parents were like… The Spirit King looked back over to Corey and sighed lightly. Corey…I'll make sure you get a good place in the Spirit World…that's the least I can do for you.

"Missed me, Shura!" Derek yelled, as Shura attempted to punch him right in the face. He dodged by ducking down, and went to stab the demon lord in the stomach, but he grabbed the blade right on the edge of it. Blood dripped down his hand as he held it.

"Heh heh heh. Nice try, but not good enough." He held onto the blade with one hand, and with the other gave Derek a tremendous blow to the gut, causing blood to spew out of his mouth. Shura let go of the katana and unloaded a barrage of punches to Derek, which he couldn't dodge. The last punch he gave was charged with demon energy, and forced Derek into the ground, actually breaking the floor. Derek fell down through the top floor and onto the floor underneath. Blood trickled down his chin.

Derek leapt forward once again, unscathed by the attack he was just hit with. This must have surprised Shura, because Derek snapped his fingers and sparks erupted around his blade. He then slashed at Shura with it, who was hit by the full blow, and snarled in pain. The demon lord countered by giving Derek a swift kick to the side of the head, which knocked Derek down a few feet back. Koenma winced a little, and then looked back at Corey, and his eyes widened.

Something isn't right…Corey's spirit did not go to the Spirit World. I would have felt it enter the Gate of Trials. He looked back over at Derek, who had jumped back up onto the top floor, panting and holding his side. What does this mean? Where could Corey's spirit have gone?

******

I opened my eyes slowly, looking around in silence. The area I was in was completely white, but not a blinding kind. It was…soothing.

"Where am I?" I asked aloud, not expecting to be answered. "Is this the Spirit World?"

"Not quite." Came a voice, coming from seemingly nowhere. I jumped a bit and turned around quickly, trying to find the source of the voice that was speaking to me.

"Who the hell is that? Come out and show yourself!" I demanded, already pissed off at how today was going. I really didn't need some invisible guy messing with me.

"God, you're impatient…" said the voice again, and at that point a figure appeared. A human figure. The human was older, but I couldn't tell by just the way he looked. I could tell by the way his spiritual presence felt. Like it had been in the plains of existence for far longer then it showed. He had long black hair, with a few streaks of white in it, but not to many. He wore a Gi, similar to the one that Gero wore, but it was white with green wristbands and belt, and no under shirt. His physic was one of a fighter's.

"Okay…now that I see you, why don't you tell me who you are?" I yelled, gripping my hand into a fist.

"Like I said…you're impatient, Corey." The man repeated, smirking a little.

"Kiss my ass!" I nearly screamed, now running at him. I winded up, and threw a furious punch right at the man's face. When I was supposed to make contact, all I did was hit air. The man was standing to my side, and was laughing.

"Why not hear me out, Corey? Let me introduce myself. My name is Yusuke Urameshi." I stopped and blinked at him,

"Yusuke? The Yusuke that Koenma and Kurama have told me about?"

"The very same." He said simply, still smirking at me, "I've been watching you fight, Corey, and I gotta say…you really suck."

"Hey!" I growled, my fists clenched again, "I'm fighting one of the most freakin' powerful demons in the whole damn world at the moment!"

"You mean…you were fighting one of the most powerful demons in the whole damn world. I'm pretty sure that your body just got deep fried." He countered, and I just kind of stopped talking and grumbled.

"Shaddup…" I said quietly, thinking back at the battle I was just in, "So…what happens to me now? You said I wasn't in Spirit World. Why'd you bring me here?"

Yusuke walked over to me and rested a hand on my shoulder,

"Because, Corey, I'm about to make you a lot stronger then you were before." He simply stated.

"Come again?" I asked, confused about the statement. "Did you say I was going to be stronger? What, like do you have some kind of weird ass drug that I can take?"

"Not a drug…my spiritual energy."

"You're…going to have to run that by me…" I said, blinking a few times. Yusuke sighed and nodded,

"Right. You see, Corey, you and I are related. Not closely…in fact, we are 35th cousins, I guess you can say, but we do have one relative in common that is very important…Raizen."

"Raizen…he was one of the three demon kings, right? I'm related to him? So…I'm like part demon or something?" I asked, grinning and getting excited.

"Well…yes, but that is hardly the point right now. You see, Raizen was waiting for an heir to inherit his powers to. Thanks to my training as a Spirit Detective, I had become strong enough that when I lost to Shinobu Sensui, I was given his powers, but that was a mistake."

"A mistake? But, you beat Sensui thanks to that, right?" I asked sounding a little confused again.

"Right, and I'm not saying that I'm not grateful for the demon powers that I inherited, but what I'm trying to say is that you were the one who was supposed to gain his power, not me. You have a natural gift with spiritual energy, and I am fairly sure that it was you who he was waiting for.

"Unfortunately, Raizen's time was short, which I'm sure made his decision easier for him. So, I ended up getting his demonic power." Yusuke ended the little monologue with a nod. I put my hands behind my head and scowled,

"So…how does any of that help me now? Shura is still out there, and probably kicking Derek's ass as we speak. He already took out Kurama!" I explained, and Yusuke merely smiled at me.

"Yes, I knew Kurama was with you. I take it he had to turn into Youko, right?" he asked, and I answered with a nod, "But back to your question. Although I wont be giving you any demon energy, I am going to give you my spiritual energy…the last bit of me that is human. After this, I will become a full fledge demon."

"Are you serious?" I asked, "Won't you miss being human?"

Yusuke's expression suddenly turned solemn, and I felt like I had said something wrong, but then I remembered about what Kurama had told me regarding Keiko, Yusuke's wife.

I looked down at the ground, "Sorry…" I mumbled.

"Don't worry about it. I see Kurama has told you a lot, and yes I will miss being part human, but I have lost all connection to the Human World. My place is with the demons now. I feel terrible that I did not step in and fight Shura myself, so the least I can do is help you as much as possible, Corey."

He smiled and then closed his eyes, and began to chant something in a language that I did not understand. It sounded Japanese, or something, but I never took that class. I wasn't one for foreign languages.

Yusuke's energy soon began to erupt around him, and I sensed both demon and spirit running through his body. It was amazing, watching this happen. I had never seen an actual half-breed before. Kurama was half human, but he only used Demon Energy. Never before had I seen the two mix like Yusuke was doing.

Wow… Was the only thought that I could think as I watched as the Spirit Energy flushed from Yusuke's body and into his now stretched out hands. The energy formed into a blue orb, and Yusuke re-opened his eyes.

"Right here is every single drop of spirit energy that I have. Like my teacher, I am going to give you the Spirit Orb. Unlike hers, however, this wont hurt. Once I transfer it, I will send your spirit back to the human world. This power will make you incredibly strong, at least up to Youko Kurama's state. It should be all you need to defeat Shura."

And with that, Yusuke put the orb in one hand, and shoved it into my chest. The transaction happened instantly, as I felt the spiritual energy rush through my veins. Some how, it all felt natural to me, and I was able to control it. I was grinning like a little kid at a candy shop,

"W-wow! This power! It…it feels great!" I exclaimed, laughing now. I looked back at Yusuke, still smiling, "Thank you, Yusuke. If there's anything I can do for you, please tell me."

It was at that point Yusuke got a mischievous smirk on his face. It was then that my body started to fade out, "Whoa!"

"Calm down. Your spirit is going back to your body. It will be healed thanks to your new energy. And yes, Corey, there is one small thing you can do for me..."

******

Derek spurted blood as Shura delivered a powerful kick right into the young demons side. For the last ten minutes, Derek had been barely standing. His body was trashed, having broken his left arm and nearly all of his ribs. His robes were nearly destroyed. His slashed the air with his katana, and panted quietly.

"Shit…" he grumbled. Shura laughed wickedly,

"Give up, Derek, and accept death. It will be much easier on you."

"Shut up!" Derek yelled, and started to run towards Shura again, but stopped.

Energy began to fill the room…spiritual energy. Shura must have noticed it, too, because he had stopped laughing. Both he and Shura, and even Koenma, were now looking around, trying to find the source of the power.

"What can it be?" Asked Koenma aloud, but then realized where it was coming from.

All three looked over, and saw Corey's body glowing blue. The black marks from the flames vanished, and then, his eyes opened. He slowly stood up, and looked at Derek, smirking,

"Thanks for keeping him busy, pal, but I got it from here. Can't let you have all the fun, right?" Corey said with a smirk, spiritual energy blazing around him.

"Corey! Your alive!" Derek stated happily, grinning despite of his wounds.

"Yup…" He replied, and then looked at Shura, lifting his right hand and pointed at him. "Well, Shura…ready for our second round?"

"Where did you get that power?! You…you were supposed to be dead!" Shura growled, outraged. Corey laughed,

"Yea…amazing what happens when you have a friend looking out for you." He looked over at Koenma and winked. He knew what he meant, and the Spirit World prince smiled.

"So…you met him, did you?" he asked, and Corey nodded.

"Yup, but I'll explain it all later. You take care of Derek. I have unfinished business to take care of." Koenma nodded, and Derek moved over to him. Shura didn't do anything about it; he was still so shocked about Corey's return.

"I'll kill you, even if it takes me a thousand times!" he yelled, flexing his own demonic power.

"Bring it on." Corey said, and the final round of the battle for the world was about to begin.


	12. The Battle's End

_**Chapter 12**_

_The Battles End_

I rushed forward, my hands balled into a fist and blazing with spiritual power. I had never felt power like this from anyone, let alone myself. It felt amazing, as if I could do anything. Shura didn't look as pleased as I was about it. The demon lord was running up to me as well, and our fists met in a deadlock in the center of the room. My sword had completely left my mind. I wanted to do this the old fashion way. I could tell right away that it was much more evenly matched then before, but Shura was still a little stronger then me when it came to power.

Luckily, Kurama's Death Seed was still in affect, and Shura's right arm was useless, giving me the upper hand. I wound up my left arm, and swung, knocking Shura dead in the cheek, forcing blood out of his mouth, and making him break fists with me. I used that to my advantage and punched him in the stomach with my right fist, and ended with a swing kick to the ribs. The final kick was what did the trick, and sent Shura down to the ground. I leapt backwards and held up my right hand, extending the index finger and holding my wrist with my other hand. Spirit energy began to materialize into an orb at the tip of my finger, and I aimed it at Shura.

"Take this, Shura! Spirit Gun!" The blast that I shot was so large, the sheer power sent even me flying back a bit.

"Wow!" The energy ball, which was at least 4 feet in diameter, shot towards Shura, who saw it coming and leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding it. I watched as the blast destroyed the outer wall of the building and continued on through the air.

_Good thing there weren't any helicopters out there. _I thought to myself as I lowered my hand, and then looked back at Shura, whose eyes had grown wide at the blast.

"See that Shura? Next time, I'll make sure it's your face that gets blown off." I called, grinning again.

"Shut your mouth, boy!" He yelled in rage, and ran towards me again. I met him halfway, and the fight continued. One punch after the other, we fought on. Even with only one arm at his disposal, Shura was a powerful foe, but I couldn't help but feel…excited. I had never had this kind of fight before. The fate of the world was in my hands right now, and I never felt better! It was like a new kind of high.

_Saving the world…my anti-drug._ I joked to myself, but it was interrupted by a solid punch to the face from Shura. I spit out the fresh blood in my mouth, and laughed.

"This is great!" I exclaimed, returning the blow with a right hook of my own. Shura and I both jumped back, and took a mutual breather, just staring each other down now.

"You…can't beat me…" Shura said, breathing heavily.

"Oh yea?" I asked, spitting again, "I'll take that bet."

This aggravated him even more, and I felt his power start to surge. It was laced with anger, hate, and desperation. He then held out his left hand, and the demon energy began to materialize into a sword like form. Flames erupted around it, and he swung it once for what I thought was just a test swing, but I was wrong.

Just the swing from the distance we were at sent a shockwave of demon energy at me, catching me off guard. I stumbled, and Shura used that, running at me, sword out. He attempted to impale me right then and there, but I narrowly dodged to the left. He then began to swing the demonic blade around, trying to slice and dice me. All I could do was dodge from side to side as he did.

"Take this! And this! Die human!" I worked my way back as Shura continued to ruthlessly swing the demon energy blade at me, but I was counting on this. He was so fueled with rage, that he didn't notice how close I was to the Tetsaru.

It only took a few more moments, and I made a quick jump back, reached my hand back and gripped it around the hilt of the sword. As Shura swung downward to dispatch me, I held up the blade and the two made contact, making our spiritual and demonic energies collide.

Electricity sparked around us, and I switched to the offensive, swinging the sword swiftly, trying to back Shura into a corner. The demon attempted to make a forceful swing to disarm me, but I moved the Tetsaru out of the way. The sword quickly began to swarm with spiritual energy.

"Bad move, Shura!" I swung my own sword down, but instead of nothing happening like with Shura, spirit energy blasted out of it in a wave, knocking Shura down hard and sending him sliding across the floor, ripping it up as it did. Once he stopped, he did no get back up.

"What? Is that all you got? My Spirit Slash was all that it took?" I asked, grinning.

_Did I really do it? _It sounded far too good to be true.

"Don't get too cocky, Corey!" I heard Kurama yell, who was just now standing up after his loss of energy from earlier, "He's not done yet. Look."

I did just that, and watched as Shura's demon energy began to gather around him. My eyes grew wide as I noted that it was much stronger then before.

"Shit…" I grumbled, readying my blade for the next round. Shura slowly arose, and I could already tell how much stronger he was.

"He was…holding back…" Derek said quietly, standing up now as well and leaning on Koenma.

"This battle is about to take a turn for the worst, I'm afraid…" said Koenma, his voice full of worry. I looked back at all three of them and glared,

"Thanks for the support, you bastards!" I yelled, but did turn my attention back to Shura, who was now standing up. To bad their right…Shura's a whole lot stronger then he was earlier.

"Your friends are right, boy…" Shura said, speaking with a grin on his face, "Earlier was probably around 85% of my true strength. I never thought I'd have to use my full power on a mere human."

The energy sword, which had disappeared after the Spirit Slash, returned and felt stronger then ever. He seemingly just vanished from the spot, re-appearing in front of me, stabbing me through the stomach with the sword. Blood gushed out of the wound and from my mouth.

"Guh!" Was about the only thing that came out of my mouth besides the blood. Shura withdrew the sword and took a step back, letting me fall to a knee.

_He's…so fast…and it's only 15% more? Dammit! _Gripping my sword with just my right hand, I held my stomach wound with me left. Shura started to laugh at me.

"What? Do you think you can beat me? In the condition you're in now? Ha!" He swung the blade to take me out, but I blocked it with my own. He seemed surprised at this, and I merely grinned, my teeth a little red from all the blood.

"I'm…not done yet. I have too much to live for, dammit, and I'm not about to let you be the bastard who kills me!" He tried the swing again, coming from the left, but I once again blocked it, the energies from the two weapons sparking each time they hit.

"Corey might still have a chance…" Kurama said softly. Derek looked over at him and grinned lightly,

"Yea…but not without some help."

Shura glared darkly at me, and took a few steps back, about 15 feet away from me, knowing that I really didn't have the strength to move a whole bunch. He extended his arms, and demon energy began to form in his palms.

_He's using the Hell's Flare attack again. _I thought to myself, and just nodded. Moving as fast as I could, which wasn't to fast, I stabbed the Tetsaru into the ground and put my foot against the flat part of it. Since I was still in contact with it, the energy from it fueled me. I held up my right hand, extending my index finger as I did, and began to charge my own energy into its tip.

"This is it!" I heard Kurama say, "The two are going to finish this with there most powerful attacks." And he was right. It was going to be spirit energy versus demon. I knew that in my current condition, the Hell's Flare would send me backwards, but with the sword in the ground, I could use it as leverage.

"What should I put on your tombstone, Shura?! 'Here lies Shura, whom got his ass kicked by a human'?" I laughed, but it didn't seem to amuse Shura any.

"You can't beat me, Corey! You don't have the strength!" He yelled back.

"Hey! You said my name! I think your really starting to warm up to me!" The energies were growing greater and larger as we exchanged insults.

"Enough of this! Time for you to die along with everyone else here, Corey Kartana!!" Shura screamed, and unleashed the attack, "Hell's Flare!"

"Spirit Gun!" I screamed back at him, shooting the overly sized spirit bullet towards Shura's own attack.

The impact happened at once.

The two energies collided together, blasting around one another as if it were two great beasts fighting. The energy was trying to push us both back, but my sword kept me in place. I felt my power draining fast as I continued to put energy into the bullet. Sweat dripped down my face, but I kept at it. Shura's energy started to push mine backwards, heading right towards me!

_I can't lose…not now…not again. I have to do this…for everyone. Mom, Derek, Liz, Kurama, Koenma, and even Jade! Everyone who is helping me…all my friends…the world! _

I felt suddenly a new boost of power, and I recognized it from somewhere. _Yusuke…heh, guess I had forgotten about you. _This new energy swarmed around me, and I sent it all out in one blast. It began to overpower Shura's, but he kept pushing until his energy was back at the center.

_I don't know how much longer I can do this… _I began to doubt, but then something happened. A figure going behind Shura. It moved so fast, that I couldn't tell who it was until flames began bursting from his fist.

_Derek…_

"Fist of the Mortal Flame!!" I heard him scream as he jumped towards Shura, punching him in the back of the head with the flaming fist, causing him to drop his energy.

"What?!!" Shura cried out as he was hit. On either reflex or pure spite, Shura flung his arm back and hit Derek hard in the face. Now was my chance.

"Do it, Corey!" Derek yelled as he hit the ground.

"Die, Shura!!" I screamed, grabbing my sword now as my energy blasted onward towards Shura.

"Nooo!!" He yelled as he tried to catch the blast. That would have worked, had I not been following behind the bullet. I lunged my sword forward and towards Shura, through the spirit energy and towards his chest, trying to make contact with his heart.

And then…everything just seemed to stop.

I breathed heavily, and slowly moved my head up so I could see if I had done it. There was Shura, his eyes widened, and he had looked down at the attack as well. Tetsaru was directly through his heart. I grit my teeth and held up my left hand, index finger out.

"Good-bye, Shura. I hope you get what you deserve in the after life." And with the last ounce of my spiritual energy, I shot Shura with one final Spirit Gun, right in the skull. He fell over with my sword still in him, dead, on the ground…with me falling opposite of him.

"Corey! Derek!" I heard Kurama yell and he ran over to us. I looked closer and saw that Derek was only a few feet away. Koenma went and helped him sit up straight, while Kurama did the same to me.

"We…did it?" I asked, not believing it. Kurama smiled and nodded.

"Yes…you did, Corey. Congratulations." I grinned a little, and looked over at Derek who was walking over to me. He helped me put my arm over his shoulder for support, and lifted me up off the ground.

"Well…that was fun, eh?" He asked.

"Oh yea…lets make it a weekly thing." I replied, rolling my eyes. We were all about to leave, when we heard a girl's voice yelling from the stairway.

"Were coming Shura!!" she yelled, and Derek and I blinked at who it was. It was Liz and Jade, both with their weapons out and looking like they were going to fight a war.

"Come out, Shura! We're gonna kick your ass!" Jade yelled, but stopped and looked at the two of us. "Derek? Corey?"

"What? Where's Shura?" Liz asked, sounding confused.

"Yea, we were going to come help!" Jade said, sounding disappointed.

"To…late…" Derek replied, barely audible.

"Yea…thanks…a lot…" I said, and at that exact moment, we both fell flat on the ground, unconscious.

******

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around the area I was in. It was a small white room, with an open window. I looked to my other side and saw Derek in a bed similar to mine. We were both covered in bandages, and he was watching TV.

"Derek?" I asked, groggily. He blinked and looked over at me, and smirked.

"'Bout time you woke up." He said, chuckling lightly.

"Where are we? And what do you mean 'about time'? How long was I asleep?"

"Four days, man. You've been out of it since we beat Shura. Nice you could join us in the land of the living…err, sort of. We're in Spirit World. A Spirit World hospital actually. Koenma and the others brought us here to recover. Man, I still can't believe you got Yusuke's spirit energy! That's crazy, bro!"

"Oh…yeah…" I said, thinking about how long I had slept. "What happened to all the demons?"

"Well, when we beat Shura, the Ka-Kai barrier net was destroyed, and so a few demons came and took care of them. Friends of Kurama's I assume." He reached over to the other side of his bed and grabbed a pudding snack and began to eat it.

"So I guess this is the end of our great little adventure, eh?" I was about to nod, but then suddenly coughed.

"Umm…Derek?" I said, after recovering.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Well…there was a condition, for me getting Yusuke's energy…"

"Yes…?" he sounded apprehensive.

"Well…you know the Demon World Tournament?"

"We're signed up…aren't we?"

"Yup." I glanced over at him, and he looked over at me.

"Corey?"

"Yeah?"

"I fucking hate you."

Author Note: Well, I hope you all liked the first set of this series. There is more to come…who knows! Maybe I'll get more fans!

Coming Soon:

Corey and Derek, along with Derek's new girlfriend, Jade, prepare themselves for the biggest tournament in all of the Demon World! Both Corey and Derek train under two familiar faces. Derek gets a new rival, and Corey is plagued by a mysterious voice that follows him all the way to the Demon World. The next installment of The Spirit Detective Archives Book Two: The Demon Realm Tournament.


End file.
